


Smooth, Like Chunky Peanut Butter

by JyrusQuash



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Attempt at Humor, Awkward Crush, Crushes, Danny/Carmilla Bromance, F/F, Female Friendship, Fluff and Humor, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Romantic Comedy, Someone stop me, Summer Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-07-27 01:36:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20037742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JyrusQuash/pseuds/JyrusQuash
Summary: Silas' resident outcast, Carmilla Karnstein, finds out her long-time crush is a lesbian. Will this help her make the first move? Will she be plagued by the eternal curse of useless gay energy? Will Laf ever not be eating popcorn? Find out on this non-specific, chapter by chapter story!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> While I was scavenging for remnants of "It's not Living if it's not with you" I found this old prompt. It's not nearly as dramatic as my other ones, but I thought it'd be some nice summer reading. I'll update it periodically, since I can write this story as random as I want (It'll be a chapter by chapter kind of ting).
> 
> Please be nice, and continue being as lovely as you are!
> 
> Enjoy reading, friends!

** Smooth, Like Chunky Peanut Butter **

_A Carmilla Fanfic_

** **

“I don’t think that’s supposed to go there, Dan.” Carmilla said, watching as her stupid jock friend was trying to hang up some streamers for the local fair. Normally, the raven-haired teen wouldn’t be caught dead near anything ‘social’, but her stupid friend promised to help Mrs. Port with the decorations for the dance floor (well, fenced off section of a corn field, where dancing would be acceptable). If Carmilla wanted to be driven anywhere in this shithole town, she was going to have to wait for Danny to finish helping. Stupid Danny; always trying to be the knight in shining Nike sneakers.

Unlike Carmilla, Danny was the type of person that everyone really liked. Always offered to help, even when it wasn’t necessary, and was generally really polite. Her extra curriculars consisted of soccer, rugby, lacrosse…anything with a ball, honestly. A big, approachable, decent human being. She was a larger than life personality, with a larger than life build. Carmilla lost track of her height when she passed 5’9 at 13 years old. With a build like Danny’s, the title of clumsy goofball came very easily.

Struggling with her footing, the tall redhead readjusted herself on the tiny Wal-Mart step ladder. “WHOA –! Okay…okay I got it.” Carmilla just shook her head. As much as they differed from one another (in almost every way), Carmilla couldn’t see herself ever functioning without her best friend.

“You don’t even need the goddamn ladder, you pleb.” The raven-haired girl shouted.

“You’re the frickin’ pleb!” Danny attempted to throw the box in her arms at Carmilla, but the movement caused the ladder to shake again. “Fuck!”

The raven-haired girl just shook her head and crossed her arms. “Pleb.” Carmilla was still 100% certain that the blue streamers were supposed to be hung under the lanterns and not over them, but she enjoyed watching the ginger giant struggle. After a few more minutes of Danny growling at the streamers, another figure approached the scene and stood beside Carmilla with a giant bag of popcorn.

“What’d I miss?” the short-haired ginger said, right before stuffing their face with popcorn. Carmilla turned to see Lafontaine, another friend of hers.

“Danny’s declaring war on the streamers.”

“Oh, really?”

“More specifically, the blue streamers.”

“Darn them to heck.”

Lafontaine was also a very good friend of Carmilla’s but their dynamic wasn’t quite as drastically different as her and Danny’s was. They both enjoyed old rock music, with the occasional house mixes as well; they didn’t care much for pop-culture. The most important characteristic of their unique friendship, however, was that they both loved to poke fun at Danny.

“Why don’t one of you two idiots actually help me with these stupid paper-mâché syndicates?!” Danny screeched at her friends. Lafontaine and Carmilla just looked at one another.

“Paper-mâché syndicates?” Laf quoted, “That’s one for the books.”

Carmilla just smirked. “I’ll say.”

“URGH! MORONS!” Danny exclaimed, angrily going back to unravelling the various blue streamers in her grasp. “Stupid friends; stupid streamers…”

“Is everything going alright, over here, ladies?” a short old lady asked, waddling over to see what was causing all the commotion. Lafontaine resisted the urge to correct Mrs. Port for the eleven-trillionth time about their proper pronouns. The woman was too ancient, however, so Lafontaine couldn’t be bothered. Instead, they smiled warmly.

“Everything’s fine, Mrs. Port!” Lafontaine hollered and the old woman smiled, leaving them alone again. Mrs. Port has been The Town of Silas’ mayor for over 50 years, and was reaching the brink of 90 years old. In fact, this little festival was going to be held in honour of their beloved mayor; it was held every year.

“Is she ever going to not be mayor?” Carmilla asked, stealing a handful of popcorn from the ginger. The raven-haired girl made sure to ask her question without the old woman around.

Laf just shrugged, “She’s probably immortal. Just like the queen!” nodding along with that sound hypothesis, Carmilla just continued to watch Danny struggle. Two minutes later, Danny dropped the box onto the grass and exploded into a fiery rage.

“MOTHER FUCKER!”

Lafontaine and Carmilla began to clap as Mrs. Port waddled over once more.

…

After apologizing to Mrs. Port for almost ruining the decorating (and the variety of expletives that escaped Danny’s foul mouth), the unlikely trio headed into Silas’ severely tiny downtown area. Silas was pretty small, probably only like 3 freeway exits long, and was mainly made up of cornfields and farm land. This little downtown area housed little shops and markets that were enough to entertain the elderly and child populations. Teenagers would usually escape to Crawford, the next town over, for drive-ins, bars and all that jazz. Completely satisfied with the scenery of downtown Silas, on a Friday night, Carmilla and her friends chose to remain here.

Danny flipped the popcorn pail upside down, “How did you guys already finish the large popcorn?”

“Teamwork.” Both Laf and Carmilla said, high-fiving. Danny just shook her head and tossed the empty snack pail into the nearest trach can.

“After today, I’m genuinely surprised that you two know what ‘teamwork’ even is.”

“Don’t be salty Dan,” Carmilla comforted, patting Danny on her shoulder, “you’re the one who promised to help. Laf and I are just the ones who enjoy a little entertainment!” Danny let out a low growl.

“Frickin’ nark.”

The three teenagers didn’t really have anything incredibly amazing planned, for their Friday night. Usually, they’d go to the local board games café and remain there until it closed. Since they couldn’t make up their minds about doing anything else, they found themselves outside of _The Anglerfish Gaming Café_ after a short 3-minute walk. It wasn’t very busy, but the people who were present made Carmilla want to leave immediately. She tried to make her escape, but Danny and her superfluous and lengthy limbs were blocking her way.

“Whoa, what’s going on?” the taller redhead asked.

Carmilla just aggressively shook her head, “I can’t be in here.” Overhearing the commotion behind them, Lafontaine turned around.

“What? Why not? We always come in here.”

Curious, Danny began to scan the area. There were a few college students, an elderly couple, some dude that could quite possibly be a hobo, and a group of girls in Silas High Cheerleading uniforms. Oh…

“Oh…” Danny said, finally understanding what was happening. Her expression went from realization to conniving in a matter of seconds. “Hehe…oh no, Carmilla,” Danny chuckled, shoving her friend further into the café. “now you _have_ to be in here.” Carmilla struggled immensely against her captor.

“You bitch!” the girl seethed, “This is assault!” Lafontaine squinted their eyes and turned around to look around the café. Just like Danny, their eyes landed on the group of cheerleaders and a wide smile spread across their face.

“Ohoho!” Laf began to rub their hands together, like an evil fly, “This is _too good_.” The shorter redhead reached for one of Carmilla’s arms and began to tug her along. Arm in arm, all three friends walked further into the café while Carmilla suffered sandwiched between the gingers.

“You both suck.” Carmilla sighed, beginning to go through the stages of grief. Danny and Laf just ignored all of Carmilla’s comments and sat down at a booth beside the cheerleaders.

See, Carmilla is not really an outgoing person. This characteristic was probably the most sovereign trait that the 18-year-old possessed. If you went around the town of Silas, asking about the Karnstein family, you’d get an earful about Carmilla’s older brothers: Warrick, Sergei and Kilian. After that, people usually followed up with the following: “Oh, and their little sister, the quiet one” or “They’ve got a sister, but she doesn’t talk much”, or even “What sister?” Carmilla’s older brothers were treasures of Silas. Warrick was the high school’s superstar quarterback, back in 2007. Sergei was a certified genius and got to graduate instead of attending grade 11. Kilian…well…he was kind of the troublesome one, but that didn’t make him any less famous; he played rugby and somehow graduated as valedictorian (Carmilla and her siblings were convinced he threatened someone). And lastly Carmilla: the only rose in a field of Venus fly traps. Unlike her renowned brethren, she preferred to keep to herself and relied on her close friends to keep her grounded. She didn’t need validation from the town, as her egotistic male counterparts did; she was an independent woman.

An independent woman who would rather die than speak to her crush.

So as established, Carmilla was not very outgoing. Toss in the fact that she had a raging girl-crush on one of the most popular people in school and you had a recipe for anxious pity. Laura Hollis was the object of Carmilla’s affections, since before anyone even knew what a crush meant. She was not the head cheerleader but she was the crowned jewel of Silas High; always offering to tutor the younger years, volunteering to assist staff and helping with pep rallies and fundraisers. Laura was always approachable, kind-hearted and friendly. Essentially, she was the exact opposite of Carmilla, so there was no way in Hell that they’d have anything to talk about (Sometimes, what Carmilla wanted to do didn’t really involve talking, but this is an all-ages Minecraft server).

As Satan would have it, Danny and Laf picked the booth directly beside the cheerleaders. Carmilla made sure to put extra effort in sitting with her back towards them while Danny and Laf had the perfect view of the cheerleading squad. Sitting directly behind Carmilla was Betty Spielsdorf and Mattie Belmonde. Sitting directly in Danny and Laf’s line of sight was Laura Hollis, Lola Perry and Mel Callis. They weren’t like the stereotypical cold-hearted bitches that cheerleaders were thought to be; they were pretty decent as a collective.

“So, what game should we play?” Danny said quickly, looking through the list of available board and card games. In a very obvious manner, and tone, Lafontaine sat up straighter to catch a glimpse of the cheerleaders’ game choice. They were enjoying their fun game of “Cards Against Humanity”, laughing like happy maniacs.

Perfect.

“Uh,” Laf stated loudly, “I wanted to play Cards Against Humanity.” When their undramatic pause finished, they continued, “Oh dear; someone has already taken it out. What a darn tootin’ shame.” Carmilla groaned and sunk further into the beige leather of the booth. As if on cue, the cheerleaders heard the plea and turned around.

“Oh my God,” Betty said, “we have that game!” the tall blonde proceeded to clap her hands together in a giddy manner.

“Fantastic, Einstein,” Mel said rolling her eyes, “I can’t wait for you to win a science award, at grad.” While Betty and Mel bickered, Perry and Laura began packing up the game.

“We can have one big Silas High card game!” Perry said, excitedly waving to the other table. Danny and Laf waved back. The ginger duo tried to contain themselves while Carmilla finally caught on to what was happening.

“Kill me.” She sighed. As if to rub more salt into her wounds Laura appeared at their table with a smile, that shone brighter than 100,000,000 watts.

“Hey guys!” She greeted, “We heard you wanted to play this,” she said sweetly, holding up the box that the cards came in, “Care to join in?” the short brunette began to gesture to where her friends were heading. They had quickly moved to a bigger table, with more seats to accommodate everyone.

“I’m game!” Danny responded eagerly, with Laf nodding along, “What about you, Mills?” the tall girl reached across the table and punched Carmilla a little too hard, in her shoulder. The raven-haired teen would usually be the first to hit Danny back, but her attention was quickly diverted to the petite girl at the end of their table.

“Uh –!” Carmilla was struggling to get a grip because Laura had her hair down instead of in its usual ponytail, like at school. What made it worse was that the cheerleading top showed a little midriff. Because Laura was standing while Carmilla was still sitting, the raven-haired girl was way too distracted and uncomfortable. Her honey-brown hair and caramel skin should be illegal and she shouldn’t be able to have that affect on any living person.

Someone arrest this bitch.

“Um,” Carmilla realized she had long passed the threshold for a verbal response, so she gave an awkward thumbs-up instead. Only, she suddenly forgot which digit was her thumb, and she fumbled and gave Laura some finger-guns.

“Oh no,” Lafontaine commented silently, trying to not laugh. Danny was way beyond laughing, and got up to follow the other cheerleaders to a bigger table.

“Sorry Carmilla,” Laura said with a soft smile, “was that a yes?” for fear that her voice and limbs would continue to betray her, Carmilla nodded. “Awesome! Come on!” Laura reached for Carmilla’s hands and tugged her up. Without any warning, Laura was pulling Carmilla towards the new table with Danny and Laf in tow.

“This went better than expected,” Lafontaine whispered to Danny, “I just wanted everyone to say hi.”

Danny nodded in agreement, “I grossly underestimated how nice they were.”

Danny and Lafontaine watched in amusement while Carmilla was being dragged along by the love of her young life. Laura was always very friendly and oblivious, so this little interaction had zero affect on her demeanor. Carmilla, on the other hand, believed that she would suffer from cardiac arrest at some point in, the near future. Once Laura let had go of Carmilla’s hands, she sat down and patted the empty seat next to her. 

“Sit here, Carmilla!” Laura said excitedly. “It’ll be just like grade 7 science class!”

“Yay,” Carmilla replied weakly. She didn’t need a reminder about their proximity in the 7th grade. That was the particular year that everyone started going through puberty, and Carmilla recalled Laura’s V-neck shirts. “I hate myself,” Carmilla muttered under her breath. Thankfully, no one heard it.

Once everyone settled into their new positions, Betty began rationing out the cards. Quickly forgetting about the awkward state of their friend, Laf and Danny dove in and began to socialize with everyone. Danny was kind of close to Mel and Betty, while Laf just spoke to anyone who was willing to listen. Carmilla offered a shy smile to anyone who spoke to her, and almost passed out when Laura looked at her, but either way she was having a good time. Soon the game blossomed and laughs were echoing in the small, almost empty, café.

One particular round came that began to change the tone of the, thus far, innocent card game. Mattie drew a card and smiled wide.

“Oh, boy.” She said, chuckling to herself.

“What is it, Matts?” Betty asked. Still laughing, Mattie answered.

“Women get turned on by blank.” Mattie said, still enjoying the card, “I expect good answers; no more of this nice shit.” Groaning, Danny replied.

“None of my cards are good for your humour!” After countless rounds of the game, Danny had only been able to acquire three points. Giggling maniacally, Mel began to gloat. She had the most out of everyone.

“Sucks to be you, Pippy Longstocking!” Mel aggressively slammed a card down, awaiting judgement. Danny just sighed and skimmed through her shit cards.

“Okay, gang,” Mattie said, getting everyone’s attention. “Time is up!” she quickly grabbed all the cards before anyone could swap them. “Now let’s see,” she shuffled the cards before picking up one to read. “Women get turned on by… ‘going in dry’.” She scanned everyone’s faces to see who the culprit was. Having no such luck, she moved to the next card. “Women get turned on by… ‘_cheese_’?” Mattie sighed and turned to look at Danny.

“I TOLD YOU I HAD BAD CARDS!” In jest, Mattie tossed the card into the “trash” pile, where most of Danny’s cards went previously. Everyone laughed while Danny just slumped forward. Perry rubbed encouraging circles on the tall redhead’s back, for support.

“Moving on from the sad card…” Mattie rolled her eyes and picked up a new one, “…women get turned on by… ‘fifty years of fanfic’? Laura, I swear –!”

“DON’T CALL ME OUT!” the small brunette defended, “That isn’t mine!” Mattie put her hands up in surrender and continued on to the next card.

“… ‘Walking in on Jack Harkness doing your mom. And your dad’ …nice, very nice.” She looked at Laura once more, who just gave her the finger. “Miss Hollis, don’t be so rude! It’s not my fault you love Dr. Who!”

Laura slammed her little fists onto the table, like a child, “That _wasn’t me_!” the table slam scared Carmilla a little, causing her to jump. Realizing the gesture, Laura turned to Carmilla and placed a gentle reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Sorry, Carmilla.” She apologized, sincerely “I get intense during games.” Carmilla shuddered at the touch, but still smiled.

“Okay, let’s hope the rest are funny.” Mattie announced, lazily grabbing another card. “Women get turned on by… ‘Lady Gaga’s taint’. Ou, that’s funny.” Everyone laughed at that. “and the last two are ‘Rubbing it’ and ‘sixteen feet of scarf bondage’. Okay, this one’s gonna be tough.” Mattie closed her eyes and pretended to envision the perfect answer. “Just kidding.” She swiftly picked up the winning card and tossed it down. “Who likes scarf bondage?”

“YES!” Lafontaine physically stood up and did a fist pump. They did a little dance before graciously taking the black card from Mattie. “I’m in the lead now!”

“Not for long, Gnome King.” Mel said, cracking her knuckles. “I _will_ have my crown.”

“Hey, ‘rubbing it’ was accurate!” Laura defended while Carmilla’s eyes got wider.

“We get it, Queen Lesbotron,” Mattie laughed, “I wasn’t looking for accurate; I was looking for funny!”

“Don’t hate it, ‘cause you ain’t getting it!” Laura chimed, picking up a new card. All the while, Carmilla just sat in shock. Due to the conversation between Mattie and Laura, two things could be true. Either Mattie liked to make fun of lesbians or –!

“Shit, I’m sorry Laura.” Mattie said, quickly. “I didn’t mean to out you in front of these three.” Mattie looked crestfallen, but Laura just smiled brighter.

“That’s okay, Mattie. I have nothing to hide!” Laura smiled once more before going back to her new deck of cards. Okay, well that definitely answered Carmilla’s question. This meant that Laura was definitely into women…and Laura being into women meant…_Oh God_.

“Sorry,” Carmilla said, standing up, “sorry I – um – just got a message from my brother.” The raven-haired girl quickly got up from the table and began to gather her things together. The cheerleaders looked very confused while Danny and Lafontaine wore concerned expressions. Catching their concerns, Carmilla lied to them, “Warrick came back home today, I forgot I had to be back earlier.” Carmilla mouthed a ‘sorry’ to everyone again, before making her hasty getaway. Once she was gone, all the cheerleaders turned to look at Danny and Lafontaine, who just repeated what Carmilla said. Fortunately, they actually knew the truth.

…

Carmilla made it home rather quickly, since the bus she needed stopped just across the street from the café. She only lived down the main road anyway, so that one bus was good enough. She was desperately trying to get a grip on herself, but her mind just kept racing.

_Laura’s a lesbian, Laura likes girls – HOLY FUCK!_

Despite this new information, Carmilla just couldn’t cope. Laura was way out of her league and, at best, Laura might think she’s cute but in a short-term way. There’s no way that the cheerleader would ever like her in the same way that Carmilla liked her.

Once off the bus, she trudged her way to the front porch. Surprisingly, her eldest brother _was_ home, for the weekend. This made her feel less guilty. She watched as the large boy lugged his bags in both of his arms. Even though he was 6’3, there was no way he could manage all that by himself. Warrick didn’t look anything like her, with his chestnut hair and green eyes. He looked more like their biological father than anything, which made it hard for their grandmother to look at him sometimes. That was part of the reason he decided to move out.

Carmilla’s father had died in an accident, when she was only 10 years old. Having Warrick around, which reminded everyone of dad, was just too hard for their poor grandmother. Although it was difficult, grandma and ma would be thrilled to have him back home.

“War!” Carmilla called out, attempting to distract herself from Laura as much as possible. The tall boy turned around and smiled wide at his baby sister.

“Milly!” He exclaimed, dropping his bags and running to meet her halfway. After hearing the nickname, she stopped and crossed her arms.

“Don’t call me ‘Milly’!” she whined while he laughed.

“Sorry. I mean _Carmilla_.” He chuckled as he got closer which made the raven-haired girl roll her eyes.

“Just go back to Toronto,” Carmilla instructed him, “I’ve had enough of you.”

Warrick smiled, draping an arm across her shoulders. “Well I just got here.” He quickly pulled her into a tight hug and began to ruffle her hair.

“Warrick!” she chastised, trying to rid herself of his hold. “Someone help!”

Hearing the commotion, her other two brothers came rushing out of the house. Since their baby sister was screaming, the other two behemoths were ready to throw down, however, they saw Warrick and decided to join in on the tackle session. Kilian ran full-speed, into Warrick, successfully knocking over Carmilla as well. Sergei just laughed and jumped on top of the three of them, once they were on the ground. From inside the house, their mother just watched as all four of her adult-sized children proceeded to worry the neighbours. It wouldn’t be long now before they got another noise complaint. How great it was to have her family back together again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla and gang head to the fair for some good fun! Of course, that's never really all that happens to our fave group of munchkins, does it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit, this lil' AU is doing much better than I anticipated! I updated most of it, so it's modern now, since I wrote this back in 2017. Thank you for the excitement and nice comments! so here you go, lovelies: A continuation.
> 
> Enjoy!

Carmilla’s Saturday morning began with the first verse of “Toxic” by Britney Spears, blaring through someone’s Bluetooth speaker.

Rubbing her eyes, Carmilla attempted to focus on her phone screen.

10:53 a.m.

_Fuck._

Slowly, but surely, she managed to use up some energy to sit upright, on the edge of her bed. Her toes came into contact with some soft material, and she suspected it was her favourite pair of bunny slippers. Trying to kick them on, she heard a loud “eep!” and quickly recoiled her footing.

“No!” she cried out, reaching for the warm body on the floor. It wasn’t her bunny slippers, it was their English Sheepdog, Archie. She began to stroke his fluffy ears, burying her face into his cloud-soft fur. The large dog didn’t even pout, but he was very pleased to be getting such great hugs. “I’m so sorry, boy. I’ll sneak you some bacon and eggs, at breakfast.” At the mention of bacon, Archie’s ears perked up and he began to nudge her forward. Carmilla laughed at the dog’s anticipation. “Okay, okay! We’re going, slow down. I can barely walk, dude.” Once she made it to her door, she pushed it open and watched as Archie bounded down the hall.

The closer that Carmilla got towards the kitchen, the more ridiculous her day was turning out to be. It was now the second verse of the popular song, and once in the kitchen, she discovered her mother and Warrick dancing along while cooking breakfast at the stove. By the sink, doing last night’s dishes, Kilian belted out the lyrics. At the kitchen table was her grandma and Sergei, nursing cups of coffee and doing crosswords on the newspaper.

“WITH THE TASTE OF YOU LIPS, I’M ON A RIIIISE!” Kilian screeched into the wooden spoon, he was supposedly cleaning. This brother had black hair, like hers, but was built like a freight train. Kilian was about 6’6 and seeing him jam out to Britney Spears was definitely something she’d never foresee if she hadn’t already known him. Once his eyes landed on her, he pointed the spoon at her, flinging soapy suds onto her face. “Take it away, Milla!” he said, hoping that she’d join him for his performance. She just stared at him.

“Do that again, and I will shove that spoon so far up your ass, you’ll be able to scoop out your brains.”

Kilian feigned offence, placing a hand over his chest, “Jesus, sis; so moody!” she attempted to hit him, but got distracted by another voice.

“Good morning, Carmilla!” Sergei said, cheerfully. She walked over to him and ruffled his curly black hair. Sergei resembled Carmilla the most, save for the curls and the height.

She smiled at her only ‘normal’ family member, and plopped down beside him at the table. “Morning, Serge.”

“About time you woke up, darling,” her grandma commented, “was afraid I’d have to bust your door down.”

“You’d do it, even if I was awake, Lilita.” Carmilla smiled as her grandmother shoved her shoulder.

“Hear that, Nora?!” Lilita shouted over her shoulder, “Your little princess first-named me!” shaking her head, Carmilla’s mother made her way over to them with a plate of eggs and bacon.

Nora Karnstein had shoulder-length black hair, soft brown eyes and slightly tanned skin. She was only about 5’2, so it’s hilarious when she goes out on the town and addresses any of her sons as ‘my baby boy’. Life had been difficult for her in the past, which only made Carmilla more grateful to have this human as her mother. Nora became pregnant with Warrick at the tender age of 15, and struggled while being kicked out of her home. Thankfully, Lilita Karnstein welcomed her son’s girlfriend with open arms and tried her best to make sure that Nora had everything. Elias, Carmilla’s father, didn’t want to pressure Nora into anything like marriage, so they didn’t get married until Sergei had arrived. By then they both had jobs and were doing just fine on their own.

Fast forward to 8 years ago, Elias was struck by a tractor trailer, on his way home from the night shift. To say Nora was devastated would have been a terrible misread of a situation. For 18 years, Nora and Elias had been the best tag team the world had ever seen, and it was all taken away the moment the other driver decided that he was sober enough to make his journey.

Since the accident, Lilita offered to live-in with them, to help out as much as she could. At this moment in time, Warrick and Sergei were more than capable of taking care of themselves. Kilian and Carmilla, even though they were already 12 and 10, were still very immature and hyperactive. Lilita definitely had a hard time trying to get them to sit down for more than two minutes.

After setting the bacon down, on the table, Nora stood in between Sergei and Carmilla, giving them kisses on their heads. “My babies are just so tired from working so hard, at school.”

“Thanks, ma.” Carmilla said, happily. Both Sergei and Carmilla just smiled, innocently, but Lilita was having none of it.

“Your babies are four times bigger than the term itself!” she cried.

“Gram, quit yelling!” Kilian said, joining in, “You’re too old to be this loud – OW! GRAM!” the family laughed as Kilian was being swatted at by the Matriarch of the house.

“Such violence,” Warrick said, bringing over a mug of black coffee for Carmilla, “I didn’t know that you’d turn into such ruffians, in my absence.” Immediately after his comment, Gram began to pelt him with her slippers. As all the commotion unfolded, Carmilla snuck some pieces of bacon into Archie’s bowl.

…

The rest of the morning occurred regularly. Sergei and Kilian got into a heated debate and ma politely asked Warrick to make them shut up. Usually, shutting them up was knocking their heads together. It worked like a charm, every time.

After breakfast, Warrick asked if Carmilla wanted to join him and the other two on a mini fishing trip. Being the youngest, Carmilla usually jumped at the chance to hang out with her brothers, but she had already promised Danny and Laf that she’d go to the fair in honour of Mayor Port. Kilian just scoffed at Carmilla’s answer, while they drove her to Lafontaine’s father’s house.

“Pfft,” Kilian huffed, rolling his eyes, “you know you’d rather go fishing than go to that stupid thing.” Although he was crude and annoying, Kilian knew Carmilla the best. After Sergei and Warrick went away to school, it was just her and Kilian at the family house.

“I know that, Captain Obvious,” the raven-haired girl groaned, “but Danny’s my best friend and I promised I’d help her run the…” she was trying to remember exactly what task she had obliged to, but ultimately forgot, “I just promised her, okay?”

Sergei patted his sister on the back, “You are truly a loyal friend Carmilla,” he praised, “socializing and volunteering on your own free will, just for your buddies.” Carmilla just shrugged and continued to scroll through her Instagram feed.

Laf’s house was the closest to the fairgrounds, which was all the way across town. This meant that it would be another 4 minutes in Warrick’s truck, with her brothers. Carmilla knew better than to let her guard down, but of course, she forgot.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Warrick decided to begin the interrogation.

“So,” Warrick began, as they approached a redlight at an intersection, “any updates on your love life, Milly?” slowly, Carmilla looked up from her phone to see all three of her brothers giving her shit-eating grins. If she panicked now, they’d only get worse.

“No lesbians, for miles, boys.” She lied, trying to supress the memories from yesterday’s round of cards. She slumped back into the leather of the car, but that didn’t stop the torment.

“Oh, come on now,” Kilian laughed, “Don’t be so negative. I’m sure there’s at least one.”

Carmilla just sat in silence, hoping they’d switch to another topic. Unfortunately, she was way too hopeful and it backfired. The whole way to Laf’s consisted of her brothers giving her love advice and pickup tips. They were relentless and she just wanted them to stop.

…

When the Karnstein truck finally arrived at Laf’s house, the ginger was already outside on their driveway, enjoying a bag of popcorn. Carmilla shook her head as she got out of the truck. After saying goodbye to her brothers, the boys drove away to start their family fishing trip. The raven-haired teen began to walk towards Laf, who had a giant grin on their face.

“Are you smiling because you played a prank or because you’re eating popcorn?” she asked. Lafontaine just smirked harder.

“We’ll find out.” They said, and patted the spot next to them rather ominously. Suspicious, yet already exhausted from standing in this heat, Carmilla joins Lafontaine on the warm pavement of their driveway. The raven-haired girl had this strange feeling that she had forgotten something very important, but decided to ignore it for now. 

“So, when’s Danny coming to get us?” she asked.

The ginger shrugged, popping another kernel into their mouth, “Not sure,” they said, “I think she said something about helping out her mom before leaving to come get us.” Nodding along, Carmilla looked at her phone’s lock screen.

“Well, the fair doesn’t open for another hour, or so.” she reasoned, “We should be okay.” Laf just nodded along, happily munching on their popcorn.

A few more minutes went by without incident, but of course that never lasts for long. The unnerving feeling that Carmilla was forgetting something important came rushing back, and it came in the form of a shiver down her spine. As if by some divine intervention, the raven-haired girl took a chance and looked up from her phone.

She instantly wished she hadn’t.

She cursed herself internally when she heard the garage door, from across the street, began to rise. Of course, Carmilla would forget that across from Lafontaine’s dad’s house was Laura’s. Once the door was completely up, a dark blue Honda Accord drove out onto the driveway. Stepping out of the vehicle was Laura. Her long honey-brown hair was down, hanging like curtains over her strong shoulders. She was dressed in a white sports bra and high-waisted denim shorts, with some tears and tatters. Carmilla’s jaw was completely unhinged. When she turned to scold Laf, the bastard had the widest grin on their face.

Fucking traitor.

Without warning, Laura’s usual kind-hearted nature took over and she laid eyes on the pair. She started to jog over to them, to say hello. Laf was grinning from ear to ear while Carmilla started writing a note in her phone about her will. 

“Hey, Laf! Hey, Carmilla!” Laura greeted with a wide smile, “Whatcha guys doing?” Lafontaine waved while Carmilla just smiled awkwardly before hiding behind her phone again.

“We’re waiting for Danny to come pick us up.” Lafontaine answered, “She’s volunteering at the fair, this afternoon, and we offered to be there in solidarity.” At the mention of the local fair, Laura’s eyes lit up.

“Ohmygosh!” the brunette said, quite briskly, “I was thinking of going later, with the girls! Maybe we can all hang out again, like yesterday!” she then turned towards Carmilla, “You really missed out, after leaving, Carmilla” Laura informed her, “Danny and Mel almost pummeled each other and Betty ended up winning.” Carmilla just nodded and blushed (she was certain that she resembled a tomato).

Lafontaine just smirked. “Definitely. Hanging out again sounds like a fun time! Right Carm?” Carmilla smiled while the ginger offered Laura some popcorn. “So, what about you, Hollis? Heading to the pool?” Laura laughed a little and then sighed, rather regretfully.

“I wish,” she said, “our pool isn’t opened yet. My dad wants me to wash my car before I ‘even think about leaving the house again’.” Lafontaine laughed at Laura’s impression of her father while Carmilla was most certain she was going to die today.

_Of course, Laura would live across the street._

_Of course, she’d be washing her car today._

_Of course, she’d be wearing the most revealing outfit thus far._

After what seemed like ages, Laura went back to her driveway to finish what she started. Carmilla watched as Laura filled up a bucket with soap and water. This girl was really too perfect and needed to be arrested for having this affect on her.

“I hate you.” Was all that Carmilla said to Laf while they started to dry heave with laughter. “You knew she was gonna be outside, didn’t you?” Lafontaine just shrugged.

“I didn’t know. I hoped.”

Carmilla groaned and laid down on the warm asphalt of the driveway. “I don’t understand why you and Dan put me in these situations! You know I can’t talk to her!”

“But why not?” Laf asked, setting their popcorn down beside them, “You’ve known her for so long, she’s super nice and even when you don’t talk to her, she frickin’ talks to you!” Lafontaine was right; Laura was so friendly and talkative. If you left Laura in a room with a ball of yarn, she’d probably talk to it.

Life is a bitch, and Carmilla is a ball of yarn.

“Yeah,” Carmilla agreed, “but just because she talks to me doesn’t mean she’d go out with me!”

“You’ll never know if you don’t ask.”

“You’re exactly right.”

“Listen,” Lafontaine had had enough of Carmilla’s pity party for years; it was time to act. “You heard her the other day; she likes girls!” before Carmilla could hit them with ‘just because she’s a lesbian doesn’t mean anything’ crap, Laf shoved some popcorn into her mouth. “I know, BUT her liking girls increases your chance of success by –!”

Carmilla coughed and spat out some of the popcorn onto Laf’s shoes, “By what? 2%?”

Huffing, Laf stood up to get the gross kernels off of their pants, “I was gonna say at least 10%, with a 3% room for error.”

Shaking her head, Carmilla facepalmed, “Your belief that a girl like Laura would ever like someone, such as me, is the _entire_ error.” Before Lafontaine could say anything, Danny pulled up in her ridiculous, and unnecessary, truck (it was a teal Dodge Ram). Grumbling, Carmilla got up, “I’ll interact with her at the fair, if she comes, but don’t expect me to pour my heart out.”

As she walked towards Danny’s truck, Laf just shook their head.

“The definition of broody.” They muttered, following Carmilla towards the truck.

…

“Oh, sweet!” Danny was more than happy to be put in charge of the Strong-Man game. It was one of those things where there was a giant ass hammer, and people would come up and test their strength. More often than not, guys would do it to win a present for a lady friend. Danny was just happy that she wasn’t going to be one of those poor souls at the “I Can Guess Your Weight” stand. That was a trap. “I get to hit things!” Danny exclaimed while doing a celebratory fist-pump.

Carmilla sighed dreamily, “Nothing brings out the better part of our sweet Danny like violence and brute force.” With a hand over her heart, she pretended to cry.

The trio had been at the fair for an entire hour already. It was quite remarkable; so many of Silas’ residents had already made an appearance, and it was only 3:30 p.m. Lafontaine and Carmilla sat by, eating popcorn, watching Danny awkwardly demonstrate the game. As Carmilla had predicted, couples came up and the men (usually) wanted to show off their muscles. The funniest part wasn’t even when they’d miss the target completely, or even if they couldn’t lift the hammer. The funniest part was Danny, herself. The ginger giant would line herself up, as if trying to execute the perfect golf swing, and explain every movement.

“All she has to tell them is ‘hit it, and you might later’!” Carmilla groaned while Laf smiled.

“She likes to feel purposeful.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes, “She can kiss my ass.”

“Who’s kissing ass?” came a male voice, from behind them. Turning around, Laf and Carmilla smiled as they came face to face with William, his twin brother J.P., and Kirsch. William and Kirsch were on the football team and J.P. was Lafontaine’s lab partner in biology. The overall friendship started with J.P. coming to hang around at lunch. It then expanded to include William and Kirsch, who were just happy that J.P. made some friends on his own.

Lafontaine just shrugged, pointing at Danny, “She keeps Dan-splaining the rules of this game, and it’s getting ridiculous.”

“Ah,” J.P. said, “well I just came to say hello and to drop off these two.” The brunette boy gestured to his brother and Kirsch while Carmilla’s brows furrowed at his words.

“What? You’re not staying?” J.P. was the only one that really enjoyed fairs and such, “Where are you going?”

“I’m driving to a university tour, with my mother,” J.P. said. He then went around giving hugs. “I’ll see you guys on Monday!” and with that, he left.

“Nerd.” William said, shaking his head, “Have you guys seen Mattie?” he asked, “She said that she and her friends were coming to hang out.”

“I didn’t know they wanted to hang out.” Carmilla lied, avoiding Lafontaine’s tired gaze.

“It was probably Laura’s idea,” Laf told the boys, “we saw her before coming here, and basically left the option to join us open.” At the mention of Laura, both Kirsch and Will smirked at Carmilla.

“You finally asked her, Angry Hottie?!” Kirsch asked happily. He was suddenly all up in the raven-haired girl’s personal space, giving her a gigantic bear hug. “I’m so proud of you, girl-bro!” Carmilla could barely breathe while in his grasp.

“K-Kirsch – ack! – Choking!” he released her and she stumbled a little, leaning on the tall boy for support. Once she regained her composure, she said, “I didn’t ask out anyone, numbskull. She said she had already planned to come, and Laf told her we were gonna be here.”

“Dang, bro.” Kirsch said, slightly crestfallen, “I think you should ask her.”

“_We all do!_” William groaned, exasperated, “You’ve been pining over her for a thousand years, Kitty! Just ask her out for a smoothie or some other girly crap!” William’s smile was quickly replaced by Lafontaine’s popcorn bag that was still pretty full. Kirsch laughed at Will, who now had popcorn all over his outfit. Carmilla locked eyes with a very serious Lafontaine shortly afterwards.

“You’d better buy me a new one.” They threatened.

…

Eventually, the cheerleaders did show up. They had all arrived together, hitching a ride in Mel’s mother’s business van (Mel’s mom used to be a plumber, and had a massive Mercedes van that she ended up not giving back, when she switched careers). Everyone initiated contact with cordial greetings and soon everyone fell into their niche sub-groups.

Mel, Mattie and Danny hovered around Betty attempting to gain a better understanding of how her perspective works. William, Carmilla and Kirsch talked about videogames while Perry, Laf and Laura spoke to one another about school. Everything was relatively fine until Mattie had to ask Perry a question, disrupting the balance of their dynamic. Soon, pretty much everyone was now mingling with someone new, and somehow, Carmilla ended up in a conversation with Laura.

The small brunette casually asked Carmilla if their family was okay, referring to how she left the café early, last night. Panicking, Carmilla just fumbled with her phone and said that her brother had come home from Toronto. She hoped that would have ended their conversation yet Laura just went on about how she was going to Ryerson University, for journalism, in the fall. As Laura spoke, the raven-haired girl couldn’t help but think about how beautiful Laura looked in a simple oversized cardigan, a tank top and the same shorts from earlier. Of course, there was more to this crush that just her looks; Carmilla loved how Laura was so kind and generous. It was also admirable how confident she was, in any given situation, but her talkative nature was going to be the death of Carmilla.

“So where are you going, next year, Carmilla?” Laura asked with a bright smile. The raven-haired girl cursed herself for the hundredth time; even though she had been here with Laura for about 20 minutes, she was wholly unprepared for any form of intelligible conversation.

Despite her anxiety, Carmilla started to speak (she did say that she’d interact with Laura, earlier). “Uh, I haven’t narrowed down or prioritized my choices,” she said quietly, “My older brother works in Toronto, so I was thinking any of those schools would be fine.” Carmilla had applied everywhere in the province, and gotten in as well, but her main goal was to get into the school closest to where Warrick’s place was. She didn’t want her mother stressing out about paying for residence fees while Sergei was still in school. Stupid Sergei, going for a doctorate.

“That’s exciting!” Laura said, genuinely happy, “You’re lucky you’ll have a place to stay. You’ll save so much more money, that way.” Laura suddenly began to blush. “M…maybe I’ll see you in the fall? You know, while we’re both at school?” suddenly, Carmilla’s throat became dry. Ryerson was at the heart of Toronto’s core, so it was very likely that they could see one another. Trying to think of a response, all Carmilla could do was melt at Laura’s insinuation.

_Laura wanted to hang out with her, after high school?_

She was dangerously close to having a panic attack, but the thought of Laura wanting to be her friend made her smile. Yes, friends were safe.

“Uh-um-sure!” Carmilla choked out, fighting everything within her that was telling her to ‘shut the fuck up’. Laura just smiled at her response and quickly switched the conversation over to something interesting.

“Have you ever been rock climbing?” the smaller girl asked.

Off in the distance, Kirsch and Lafontaine were quietly observing as Carmilla and Laura spoke to one another. Carmilla didn’t look like she was going faint which was a good sign.

“Do you think Angry Hottie is gonna ask out Little Nerd?” he asked. Lafontaine took a moment to process the nicknames before answering his question.

“That would be a negative, Kirsch,” they said to the large boy, “Carmilla doesn’t have enough self-confidence for that.” Lafontaine began to reflect on Carmilla’s words, from that afternoon. They truly wished that their friend could just see how amazing she was. Alas, the short ginger knew that it would take a miracle for Carmilla’s fears to magically disappear, after all she had gone through.

While Laf was reflecting, Kirsch said “If only there was a way to just magic-up something, to help her with her game.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Lafontaine asked, suddenly very intrigued.

“Like,” Kirsch obviously was unprepared for an explanation of his statement. He blinked a few times before answering, “um, medicine helps my sister’s anxiety. But medicine doesn’t work for everyone. Magic would!” he was excited of the prospect, but quickly laughed off the notion, “But magic isn’t real.”

“You’re right Kirsch; Magic isn’t real.” grinning, Lafontaine turned to face Carmilla and Laura, “But science is.”

…

Ten minutes passed and Danny was allowed to leave her station, for the evening. Some other volunteer came along to take over the shift, for the rest of the fair. Finally; their night could begin.

While LaF, Carmilla and Kirsch went to get more snacks and drinks, the rest of the teenagers went to go and try out the pop-up rides. Carmilla settled on some Dip n’ Dots ice cream while Kirsch bought a whole litre of pop. While Carmilla was enjoying her snack, the tall boy quickly, and discreetly, offered the drink to Lafontaine.

“You sure this is gonna work?” he asked as Laf unscrewed a small vile and poured some pink liquid into the pop bottle. He was excited for Laf’s science-y stuff; it always made things super cool.

“Science, although meticulous and precise,” Lafontaine explained, while trying to mix the beverage, “has a lot of grey area. This experiment will be the grey area.” Once satisfied with their makeshift bartending skills, the ginger walked over to their friend and handed them the bottle. “Hey, try out this Coca-Cola Lime! I know how you always put lime in your coke; maybe this can save you a few bucks while in university!” shrugging, the raven-haired girl took a sip of the drink. It didn’t take long for her to realize she had been played.

“Gah – Pfft!” Carmilla began to wipe her tongue on her napkin, “Laf, what the hell did you just give me?!”

“My new experiment,” Lafontaine answered shamelessly. “It’s supposed to chemically react with the cells in your brain, to combat social anxiety.” They explained, completely unphased by the look of sheer anger lacing their friend’s facial features. “This way, you’ll be able to ask out Laura!”

“Yeah!” Kirsch cheered, right before Carmilla’s fist met his gut, “OW – bro!”

“How dare you use one of your stupid contraptions on me, without telling me!” Carmilla seethed.

Lafontaine raised their arms in surrender, “I asked you, and you said yes!”

Scoffing, Carmilla shook her head “When was that?!” she was pretty goddamned sure that she’d remember something like that.

The ginger looked thoughtful before answering her question. “…ten minutes ago?”

Carmilla thought about what she was doing ten minutes ago and realized that she was listening to Laura talk about rock climbing in British Columbia, with her cousin Albert. “God dammit, Laf!” Carmilla stormed off in the direction of the outdoor bathrooms, with Kirsch in tow, while Laf took out their voice recorder.

“Anxiety-Reversal in effect,” they said, excitedly, into the device, “let’s see how this goes!”

…

Half an hour passed, and Danny was starting to worry about where Carmilla, Laf and Kirsch had gone. They only left to ger some food and drinks; they should have been back with the group by now. The tall ginger had voiced their concerns to William, who just shrugged and said that she was being a big baby.

“Relax, Big Red,” he said patting her on the back, “I’m sure the kiddies are just deciding between Freezie flavours.” Sighing, Danny relaxed as Betty came over to join her and William. Everything was fine again, until…

“Hey, Laura!” some tall girl said, running towards the group. She was nearly as tall as Danny, with blonde hair and a letterman jacket that read _Crawford Knights_. Laura just groaned.

“_Oh, no_.” the brunette just closed her eyes and threw her head back in agony.

“Trouble in paradise?” William asked and Laura just sighed. Not wishing her friend to be in any more stress, Perry patted Laura on the shoulder and attempted to explain the whole thing to everyone.

“It’s Alexis.” Perry stated, awkwardly, “She was – uh – Laura’s, um –!”

“They were a thing, but now they aren’t, and they hooked up like a few months ago, but Laur’s been ignoring her on purpose.” Everyone turned to look at Betty, who just sat on Danny’s lap as if a whole pot of scalding tea hadn’t just been poured all over this gossip circle.

“Um,” Mattie commented, “filter much?” before Betty could reply to Mattie’s sass, Alexis had already infiltrated the circle with a bright smile.

“Hi Alexis,” Laura said, patting the large girl on her forearm, “What’s new?”

“Oh, you know,” Alexis said, blushing, “just the last polo match of the season is coming up –!” at the mention of polo, Danny faced the rest of the cheerleaders.

“She plays _polo_? Seriously?” Danny asked, super intrigued and confused.

“Uhuh.” Mel said rolling her eyes.

Mattie just nodded, “It’s super gay.”

“See?” Betty exclaimed, “That’s what I said!”

“– and I wanted to ask you, you know, if you’d like to come and watch us play?” Alexis looked down at her thumbs, not really making eye contact with Laura at all. This would’ve been totally adorable if Laura wasn’t already 1000% over their time together. “And after, if you want, we can, I don’t know, go for dinner or something?”

“Look, Alexis,” Laura sighed, placing a gentle hand on the girl’s arm, “I know we had our fun but –!” Laura was then interrupted by loud screams, coming from her friends. Cold water was suddenly being sprayed at everyone. Betty, Perry and Mattie squealed, trying to shield themselves while William, Mel and Danny were just genuinely confused. Laura was completely blocked by the tall blonde girl and she shifted to see where the water was coming from.

About a few metres away was Carmilla, in star-shapped sunglasses and a baby blue crop-top that read “We Love Mrs. Port”. In her hands was a large Nerf water gun. Laura’s mouth hung open at the sight.

“WHO’S READY FOR A HOT GIRL SUMMER?!” the raven-haired girl asked, ceasing fire of her liquid-filled assault rifle.

Wiping the water from her eyes, Betty was blindsided. “What the actual FUCK?!”

“_Carmilla?!_” Perry asked, shocked at what was happening.

With a loud cackle and a twirl of the water-gun, Carmilla replied, “It’s me, bitches! Ha-ha!”

Danny looked right at Lafontaine, “What the fuck did you do?!” The shorter ginger was slumped over, heaving. They had just chased Carmilla over the entire fairgrounds, with Kirsch. They lost the tall boy, in the corn maze, but that was a problem for later.

“Experiment,” Lafontaine huffed, clearly out of breath, “for social anxiousness,” the gasped one more time before they finished the sentence, “too effective.”

“Hey, watch where you point that thing!” Alexis said, shoving Carmilla’s water gun away from her.

“That’s what – ha! – she said! ZING!” the raven-haired girl wobbled as she patted herself on her back.

“I’m so confused,” Mel commented, “but I’m so glad I didn’t stay home, tonight.”

“Same, friend.” Mattie just nodded along, watching the madness unfold. “Same.”

Carmilla, in her dazed state, tilted over a little too closely for Alexis’ liking and the taller girl pushed her away. Carmilla stumbled backwards, into William who caught her and stopped her from falling over.

“Hey!” William protested, “That wasn’t cool!”

“Well she’s clearly on drugs or something,” Alexis defended, shrugging her shoulders. She then turned towards Laura and gestured away from this nonsense. “Come on, Laura; let’s go.”

“What?” Laura asked, even more confused about this than what was going on with Carmilla, “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“But I want us to –!”

“No, Alexis,” Laura said, “I don’t wanna talk about this any – hey!” while she was attempting to be polite, Alexis started tugging on the small girl’s arm.

“C’mon,” Alexis pleaded, “I just wanna talk!”

“Hey, Frankenboobs!” Came Carmilla’s voice, over the uncomfortable scenario that was taking place. Once everyone’s eyes were on the pale girl, she walked closer to Alexis. Biting her lip, Carmilla poked the tall girl right in the chest, “Listen, listen,” she kind of sounded like that one uncle who drank too much at Christmas, but no one really cared, “the pretty girl said ‘no’, so you – uh – you gots’ta leaf.”

“You mean ‘leave’?” Danny supplied and the dazed girl whirled around to face her friend.

“That too!” The tall ginger shook her head when Carmilla gave her a thumbs up.

Alexis scoffed and towered over Carmilla’s small frame. “Well what are you gonna do about it?”

“Uh,” Carmilla looked thoughtfull for a moment. “This.” Suddenly, the water gun was pointed directly at Alexis. Without further prompting, Carmilla pulled the trigger and a stream of water soon blinded the taller girl.

“AH!” Alexis used her hands to rub at her eyes and Laura scampered back towards Perry, Mel and Mattie. Danny, William and Betty just sat there, baffled as Lafontaine was still hunched over and coughing. Alexis, regaining her energy, marched over to where Carmilla stood just smiling like a child.

“You can like, GTFO anytime now.” was Carmilla’s last words before Alexis’ fist was all she remembered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep doing you! Have a great day! xoxoxo


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla isn't on drugs anymore! Yay! But after waking up, there's a surprise awaiting her! Ouuuuuuuu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all are such amazing supporters of this thing so here's another chapter! It's shorter, but it's done!

She had been awake for about ten minutes now and was aware that she was in her bed. She had a slight pulsating migraine, and some dull pain, just above her right eye. She remembered everything from the fair (chugging that gross coke, reprimanding Ginger 2 and Beefcake, buying a giant Nerf rifle, buying the sunglasses and that absurd crop top, etc.), but after that giant Thor wannabe of a chick clocked her, she drew a blank. Anyway, she was awake but pretended to be asleep to overhear a conversation that her grandmother and mother were having, at the foot of her bed.

“…she’s fine, Nora,” Lilita whispered, just loud enough for the other woman to hear, “you heard her friend; it was just a scuffle. Milly didn’t know them for a long time.”

Nora sighed, “Yes, I know.” Carmilla could hear the concern in both of their voices, but her mother’s unusually timid tone tugged at her heart a little more. “But you remember how it was for her, in grade school, Lilly; I just…” Nora sniffled a little, still trying to mask the pain in her voice, “I can’t deal with that stuff without Eli here. I don’t know how to.” Carmilla definitely remembered grade school. The bullying had gotten so horrible that she had to be moved into a public school, as opposed to the Catholic one that all her siblings had already attended.

“Carmilla is a strong young woman, Nora. She was protecting her friend from this girl,” Lilita soothed. Carmilla assumed that her grandmother was hugging her mother, because the sniffles were muffled. “You did that on your own. She learned it all from you.” Carmilla almost broke character, just to see their tender moment, but she heard some shuffling and their voices sounded a little further away. “Now, her friend is still here. Why don’t we go and be some suitable hostesses, while this one rests a little longer?”

With a chuckle, Nora replied, “Oh yes, I forgot about her. I’ll ask her if she’d like to stay for dinner.”

Lilita clapped, excitedly, “Yes! Someone’s gotta sit in Milly’s place while she’s up here.”

Carmilla waited until their footsteps were on the staircase before sitting upright. When she sat up, she didn’t have a difficult time, so she decided to try and stand. With her feet hanging off the side of her bed, she concentrated on her footing before standing. Once she had full confidence in herself, she stood up. She wobbled a little, and leaned on her window sill for support. Catching her breath, she looked out onto her driveway, expecting to see Clarice (Danny’s stupid name for her stupid truck). After all, what other friend (that was a “she”) could be at her home, at this time? When Carmilla zeroed in on her driveway, she felt her breath hitch.

Clarice was nowhere to be found.

Instead, parked at the end of the driveway behind Warrick’s truck was a dark blue Honda Accord.

_Fuck me._

In a panic-induced rush of adrenaline, Carmilla launched herself to the nightstand closest to her and rummaged around for some Tylenol and Gravol. The Tylenol was for pain and headache; the gravol was in case talking to the driver of the Honda was gonna give her stomach some issues. Shoving the Tylenol into her mouth first, she ran to the bathroom and shoved her face under the faucet. Once that pill was down, she did the same with the Gravol (yes, this was very unnecessary, but vomiting in front of Laura AND her brothers was not going to be an option).

She took a long look at her reflection, in the bathroom mirror. Her shiner was much smaller than she had anticipated; only going about a few centimetres around her eye. It was still really painful to look at, but the size of it could have been much worse. The raven-haired girl contemplated masking it with some concealer, but there would be no point since everyone present had already seen her injury. She closed her eyes, leaning over the sink, giving herself a miniature pep-talk.

“Alright Carmilla Rosalia Karnstein; you’re safe. You’re in your own home. Laura’s here, but that’s fine. everything’s okay…” she took a break from her speech and opened her eyes, staring at her reflection. She chuckled at herself, “…and you look like a lunatic. Alright; show time.”

After looking in the mirror, she realized that she was still wearing the stupid crop top, in honour of the mayor. Shaking her head, she walked into Kilian’s room. She made sure he wasn’t in it before shucking off the crop top and reaching into his closet for one of his plain black hoodies. She frequently stole his hoodies and he constantly stole her hats. It was an even trade, both ways. Walking out of his room, she used the hair-tie on her wrist to put her hair up in a ponytail. She made sure to fluff out her bangs with her fingers, to make herself look presentable and less of a mess (her bangs also covered some of her right eye).

After prepping herself for her death, she slowly made her way down the stairs. She was only in the foyer of the house, at the base of the stairs, and she could already hear Laura’s angelical voice bouncing off of every surface of the place. She eventually made it to the doorway of the kitchen, where she stopped to observe the playing field. Laura was sitting at the kitchen island, with Warrick and Kilian nursing beers around the opposite side of the island. Sergei and Nora were at the stove (most likely executing the perfect pasta sauce from Nora’s side of the family) while Lilita was sitting right beside Laura, on her right. Everyone had large smiles on their faces, so Carmilla assumed that Laura was reeling in the crowd with her usual charm.

“…and that’s when the geese came. I hadn’t seen my 7 iron, since then, and I don’t think I ever will.” Laura concluded and Carmilla watched as both Kilian and Warrick doubled over in laughter. While Warrick took another sip of his beer, Kilian spoke.

“That is, by far, the greatest story I have ever heard in my 22 years of life.” The dark-haired boy kept laughing, trying to sip his drink.

“Ever think of going back to Everwood Greens?” Warrick questioned. Carmilla gathered that they were talking about golf; Everwood Greens was her eldest brother’s favourite golf course. It was her dad’s as well.

Laura just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “My dad’s convinced that I’m a bad omen at Everwood, so he hasn’t taken me back. I’ve just been going to Aldridge Run and…” the honey-brunette scratched her head, trying to remember the other course, “…that other one? You know; right on the border of Crawford and that highway, towards Thunder Bay?” at this comment, Sergei turned around.

“Ah!” he said, still stirring the pot of sauce, “That’s Landstone.”

Laura snapped her fingers and pointed at the curly-haired boy. “YES! Thank you, Sergei.” He just gave her a thumbs up and continued to help with dinner. Carmilla was more than shocked; Sergei rarely interacted with new people so well. It took him almost four years to acknowledge Laf and Danny, and they were always over at their house.

Warrick crushed his beer can and walked over to the sink, still chatting to Laura. “Well, if you’re up for it, you can come with me and Mills to Everwood. She’s absolute crap at golf, but maybe she’ll listen to you.” Carmilla didn’t miss Warrick’s subtle eye wiggle towards Kilian, who just reciprocated the action.

Laura, just being oblivious, smiled and obliged. “That sounds fun! Thank you for the offer, Warrick.” This response only made Kilian and Warrick grin wider.

Carmilla was fully content on watching the interactions from her spot at the kitchen entrance, but Archie had other plans. The large sheepdog nudged the inside of her left knee, almost making her fall over. She quickly shoved him away once she regained her footing. Oh well, she should probably intervene now, before her brothers started planning her wedding.

“H-h-hey, all…” the raven-haired girl greeted rather awkwardly. Her hands were tucked inside the sleeves of the sweater, so she appeared shyer than she was. Well, actually, it was probably the appropriate representation. Everyone’s eyes landed on her small frame, and everyone smiled wide.

“The beast has awakened!” Kilian said in a booming voice while raising his beer towards his sister.

“Yes, she has,” Carmilla agreed, “and she’s wondering if you’ve all ruined her life yet.” The dark-haired girl pretended to look thoughtful for a second. “Oh wait; you already did, the moment I was born.” Warrick made a sizzle sound and Kilian just pretended to be offended.

“See?” Kilian asked Laura, “See how moody she is? – OW! Gram!” there was one constant in Carmilla’s life: her grandmother’s accuracy with slippers. Lilita got out of her seat and walked towards where her slipper landed, behind Kilian.

“Stop whining, you big baby.” Lilita scolded, “Serves you right for embarrassing your sister in front of this lovely young lady. It’s probably why Carmilla hasn’t introduced her to us yet.” Kilian was about to retort, but Lilita pointed the slipper at him again. Carmilla just smiled at her grandmother’s antics.

“I mean…she isn’t wrong.” Carmilla supplied, sitting next to Laura at the island. She felt the honey-brunette’s eyes on her and she didn’t know what to do. Her heart was either stopped or beating so fast that she couldn’t feel it any longer, but she thought she was holding up okay.

“And I’m on the Cheer Squad,” Laura supplied, “so I don’t exactly have time to…hang with everyone.” Carmilla just stared at her. She had no idea why the cheerleader was covering for her, in front of her grandmother, but she didn’t question it.

“Uh-yeah, t-that too.” Carmilla choked out. At her stutter, she felt someone looking at her. Turning to her left she saw her mother, who was eyeballing her with a suspicious stare. Carmilla quickly turned away, and faced Laura again. “So-uh, L-Laura?” Carmilla was desperately trying to handle herself in front of her family, but it was not working. “Are you-uh-staying for dinner?”

Laura nodded, happily. “Yes! Your wonderful mother, and grandmother, invited me to stay.” She said, gesturing to them. Carmilla wanted to roll her eyes, because her grandmother was eating up all this praise.

“Oh, Laura,” Lilita blushed and swatted at the cheerleader’s shoulder, “such manners. I’m not used to such flattery.” Shortly after her statement, she stared down her grandchildren who all just shrugged at her statement.

“And you shouldn’t get used to it, Gram.” Warrick told her, walking behind Lilita as she scowled. He tried to be faster than her slipper, but he wasn’t. No one was.

“Alright everyone,” Nora said, “dinner’s ready. Carmilla? Do you mind helping me set the table?”

“Comin’.” Carmilla replied, rushing to where they stored the plates and cutlery. While she was counting the number of items she needed, she looked over and saw Laura pulling out her grandmother’s chair with a soft smile. The sight warmed her heart, but the moment was soon severed by Nora’s suspicious cough. Carmilla’s head snapped to the left to see her mother sporting a devilish smile.

“So, Carmilla,” Nora smirked, “do you want to tell me anything about our _guest?_” the younger Karnstein shook her head aggressively.

“Nope,” she told her mother, “absolutely not.” Collecting the appropriate number of plates and cutlery, Carmilla scurried away towards the table. Nora just smiled, knowing better than to believe her blushing daughter.

“She’s really in for it,” Nora mumbled to herself, wiping her hands on a dish cloth.

…

Dinner was certainly an event.

It wasn’t about Carmilla being awkward around Laura, rather it was Sergei and Kilian getting into heated debates about some politician in the U.K. Obviously no one really cared, but everyone was forced to listen to the stupidness that was the middle-Karnsteins.

Carmilla remained pretty quiet, unless she was directly spoken to. It seemed like Laura’s personality was definitely a flame to a moth; her mother and grandmother were basically falling in love. Laura was poised, polite and knew enough about anything to weigh in on their conversation. It started with the rising cost of gas but then ended up somewhere along the lines of sales at Wal-Mart. Carmilla could care less as she hated the spotlight. She did enjoy watching Laura speak to everyone; the girl had so much expression in her visage that it was impossible for Carmilla to focus on anything other than her.

After dinner, the boys went out back to play croquet (they were quite hammered, and this is what happened whenever they were). Nora and Lilita headed to bed, which left the teenage girls to do whatever they wanted. Thinking that her bedroom would be way too much to handle, Carmilla suggested going to the front porch. They sat in wooden chairs, with Archie at their feet, and watched as the sky went from deep-blue to pitch black.

Carmilla had never initiated contact with Laura before, so she didn’t exactly know what to do or say. The honey-brunette just looked up at the sky with a big smile plastered on her face. Five minutes passed and Carmilla decided to go for it.

“Care to fill me in on the events of this evening?” Carmilla asked and Laura turned to face her with a giggle.

“You don’t remember?”

Carmilla shook her head, “I recall absolutely nothing, after being punched.” Laura winced at Carmilla’s nonchalant summary.

“I’m sorry about that,” Laura told her looking down at her feet, “I didn’t know she was going to hurt you.” Carmilla watched as Laura, shyly, brushed some of her hair behind her ear. If Carmilla wasn’t already lovesick over this girl, she would be now, staring at her under the stars. They locked eyes for a few seconds before Carmilla shook her head and bent over to play with Archie’s ears.

“It’s fine,” Carmilla told her, “but yeah; I don’t remember much.”

Laura licked her lips and concentrated on the day’s events, before replying. “Well, after you got punched, William and Mattie rushed to your side and made sure you were okay. You were oddly fine and got up again, only to run away to the potato truck.” Carmilla blushed and Laura just kept summarizing, “Kirsch showed up and shoved Alexis, threatening her. Mel, Betty and Danny were behind him. I followed you. To double-check that you were fine and you said you wanted to take a nap. Then I tried to get you into my car, but you wanted to sit in the trunk; it was the only way to get you to come with me.” Carmilla rolled her eyes and groaned, causing Laura to laugh, “Oh, just wait, it gets better.”

Carmilla sighed, “_When_ does it get better?”

“So, I drove to your house after Laf gave me directions to it. You were in the backseat, but had your head out the window like a dog.” The honey-brunette laughed as Carmilla buried her face in her hands. “And I opened the door for you, so I guess you thought it was the perfect time to ask me to marry you.” Laura started to laugh harder when she saw how terrified Carmilla was. Honestly, Carmilla was ready to die.

“Kill me.” The raven-haired girl huffed and Laura just placed a calming hand on the girl’s thigh.

“Oh, relax. It was funny!” Laura continued to laugh and Carmilla just got lost in the melody of it. Watching Laura’s eyes crinkle with delight, her smile as glistening as ever…this was way too much. “I told you that we were way too young for that, and you said ‘okay’. Right afterwards, you just passed out in the backseat and I had to get one of your brothers to lift you out. Ah, it was hilarious.”

“Well I’m glad one of us had a good time.” Carmilla said, stretching out her arms in front of her.

“I’m sorry if I overstayed my welcome,” Laura said, suddenly very nervous, “I didn’t wanna leave until I knew you were alright.” Quickly realizing that her words may have been taken a little too heavily, Carmilla quickly stuttered out an apology.

“Oh-n-no! No that’s awesome of you!” Carmilla said, unconsciously placing her hand on top of Laura’s, “Really; thank you for driving me home... and for, you know, entertaining my family.” Carmilla slowly moved her hand away from the brunette’s, after realizing what she was doing. She was probably as red as a firetruck by now. “I know we aren’t close friends, and you didn’t have to do any of that.”

At her words, Laura smiled bright and launched herself at Carmilla for a tight hug. “Well we should be, since we’re both going to be in Toronto. Also, you’re like my fiancé and what not.” Laura was back to giggling like a maniac while Carmilla started panicking. Once the raven-haired girl’s stomach settled, she calmed herself down and told herself it was just a joke; she shouldn’t freak out.

“You said no!” Carmilla stated, deciding to play along for the other girl’s benefit. Laura just shook her head.

“I said ‘we were too young’.” Laura gave her a wink and got up from her seat. This girl was definitely going to be the primary cause of Carmilla’s death. “It’s getting late; my dad is probably having a complex right now.” Carmilla watched as Laura took out her car keys, from inside her pocket. The cool April air was making the shorter girl shiver and Carmilla remembered that she had packed a sweater in her school bag.

  
“Hang on,” Carmilla instructed, running into her house. By the front door was her school bag and she quickly fished out her large purple hoodie. There were some pencil shavings on it, so she shook it aggressively before stepping back outside. Laura’s arms were wrapped around herself, attempting to be a little warmer. “Here,” Carmilla said, giving the hoodie to the brunette, “I know you don’t have far to drive, but it’s still cold and your car probably won’t warm up until you hit the first set of lights.”

Smiling, Laura took the sweater and pulled it over herself. As she fixed her long brown hair, she pulled Carmilla into a one-armed hug. The raven-haired girl was way too distracted to notice the blush on Laura’s features. “Thanks.” Before turning and heading towards her car, Laura said, “I thought I was gonna have to drive you to the hospital, so I made your brother type in your password and put my number in your phone.” With one last friendly smile, she waved. “Have a good night, Carmilla! Text me, so I can text you back when I’m home.”

A few minutes later and Laura was pulling out of the Karnstein’s driveway. Carmilla watched as she drove to the corner of the street and around the bend before going back inside. Archie followed her in, so she waited until he was fully inside before closing the door behind her. She sighed happily, as she locked the door.

After shutting the door Carmilla leaned against it, with her eyes closed, just savouring the moment as much as possible. Of course, she was rudely pulled out of her happiness by reality.

And right now, reality was mom.

“Are you going to tell me what all that was?” Nora asked, hovering in front of her daughter.

“AH!” Carmilla was visibly frightened by her mother’s stealth. Seriously; was she a frickin’ ninja? “MA! Don’t run up on me, like that!” the raven-haired girl was clutching her chest and heaving while the older woman just rolled her eyes.

“So dramatic; just like your father.” Chuckling, Nora led her daughter up the stairs. “You’re not gong to tell me about all the nervous blushing, going on this evening?” Carmilla gave her a look which only made Nora’s brows rise.

“Ma, let it go!” despite Carmilla closing her bedroom door, Nora just re-opened it and plopped down on her bed.

“Oh, come on Carmilla; you know can talk to your mother about _anything!_”

“No, not about th – THERE’S NOTHING TO DISCUSS!” alas, Carmilla laid on her bed, face-down, as her mother continued the torment filled interrogation.

Carmilla Karnstein: the girl who will never catch a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep on keepin' on, lovelies :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of insight into the friends dynamics, without Carmilla (Don't worry, our baby broody is still here)! The gang is dead set on their new plan. But what, oh what, could that plan be? Only on this episode of "Ready, Set, Wiggle"! (Just kidding, but I was watching the wiggles while doing this. Kids settle for the weirdest television programming).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hate how when I keep the source formatting, the space between paragraphs is super big -.- so to anyone else who has an issue with it, I apologize, but I really couldn't have it appear the way I wanted it to if I didn't paste it this way. I hope you lovelies still enjoy it, despite this formatting issue. I find text-talk fics really hilarious (but only as bits, not the whole story), and I think you'll find it a nice breather to many,many paragraphs. I quite like this chapter, but please voice any concerns :) thank you! I love you all!

**[BONUS THINGY]**

**(FEATURING LAFONTAINE and DANNY)**

  
_*CUE CHEESY PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT MUSIC*_

_(^preferably the intro to any old breaking news broadcast that kind of sounds like Morse code)_

Sunday mornings were usually spent at their mother’s home, but Lafontaine’s mom was on a vacation with their knitting club. She went on some old-people’s event, down in the Florida Keys, and would not be back for another few days. The absence of their mother didn’t change anything in their schedule; it just meant more time with Mr. Lafontaine and his much more interesting conversations. Laf’s father was also the better part of the parent ship, in which he fully accepted his child’s preference for… well…lack of a preference.

Laf’s dad, Guillaume (or Gill) Lafontaine, was a programming professor in the United States. During the summer months, April to August, he would grade final exams in Silas. This meant that he could spend time with his only child, and that prospect made him super duper happy. Today, however, Gill had promised to hang out with his brothers in Collingwood.

“I’ll be back, tomorrow afternoon,” the lanky grey-haired man said, lugging his duffel bags towards the front door. “before you get home from school.”

“No probs, old man,” the ginger said from their position on the stairs, “I’ll be sure to throw wild parties and even ditch school, tomorrow.”

The programmer chuckled, and started to rummage around his fanny-pack, in search of his keys. “I was wondering when your rebellious phase would kick in, kid.” They shared some more laughs before he left and Lafontaine watched as he left the driveway.

Now alone, Laf decided to take a break from attempting to dissect the anxiety reversal thing they had created, which led to one of their best friends owning a very nice black eye. Laf had face-timed Carmilla at breakfast, and the girl seemed to be in good spirits.

_As good as spirits can be, when you were drugged and then punched in the face by your crush’s ex._

As usual, Carmilla harboured some levels of animosity but these feelings only ever manifested as empty threats and insults. Lafontaine could live with that. The question now was “What happened afterwards?”

The whole squad had seen Laura and Carmilla drive off into the sunset.

And that was when it got interesting.

_{…Flashback…} _

_Everyone watched, from just beyond the festival grounds, as Laura’s Honda slowly drove out of sight. Carmilla could be seen, from the backseat, giving the “hang loose” hand gesture and sticking her tongue out. What was more ridiculous was that Carmilla requested that her driver blast “London Bridge” by Fergie on the way to her house. Lafontaine felt very guilty about the whole scenario while Danny was just confused as to why Laura had been so eager to take care of Carmilla._

_“Of course, she’d volunteer to drive Cat Woman home,” Mel scoffed. Danny and Laf just stared at the cheerleader with a dumbfounded expression._

_“Huh?” said Laf, Danny, Kirsch and Will, all utterly confused. _

_“Please darlings,” Mattie said, approaching the scene, “you can’t lie to us and say that you don’t see how utterly enamoured Laura is with your friend.” The tall girl placed a hand on her chest, as if steadying herself, wearing an expression most similar to almost vomiting. “The amount of gross, nearly poetic, texts about how beautiful Carmilla Karnstein is in homeroom is frightening.”_

_“Tell me about it,” said Perry suddenly, “Betty and I know a little too much about Carmilla’s eye colour, and how Laura swears that she sees amber specks in those ‘milk chocolate swirls’.”_

_“It makes me wanna throw up,” Betty commented, “but it’s so cute how hard Laura is crushing.”_

_“Yeah…” all the cheerleaders sighed dreamily, together. _

_“Whoa, whoa, babes…” Kirsch said, almost mimicking that one meme of the blonde lady and the math equations, “are you saying that Little Nerd wants a piece of our Scary Hottie?”_

_Mattie looked thoughtful; as if she was going to insult him, but decided against it. “Oh Wilson, Wilson, sweet Wilson,” she chanted, softly, “…I think she wants a little more than ‘a piece’.”_

_{…End of Flashback…}_

Essentially, it was Perry’s idea to never bring up that conversation again and to let them figure it out themselves. It was then everyone else’s idea to completely ignore Perry’s. The gang vowed to gather as much information as possible and to report to one another, using the old MSN messenger app (absolutely no one used it anymore, so it was deemed safe as Hell).

Although Lafontaine adored meddling in Carmilla’s life, they decided to not do that today. Instead, they decided to work on some inventions, in the garage. Lafontaine entered the garage from inside the house, and opened the garage door by hitting the sensor button. They looked at their various tools and gadgets, but couldn’t exactly figure out what they wanted to do with all their materials yet.

After a few minutes of just standing like a creep, in their garage, Laf was a little startled when someone honked a horn a few times. Looking up and it was Laura’s blue Accord just sitting in the driveway. The cheerleader honked the horn a couple more times and Laf just smiled, stepping out of the garage to greet her.

“You parked in the wrong driveway, Hollis.”

“So, what if I did?” Laura quipped, stepping out of her vehicle, “Whatcha doing, anyway?” before Laf could say anything, they noticed Laura’s chosen attire. The honey-brunette sported black spandex shorts, a purple hoodie, and her hair was also done up in a messy bun. Now there was absolutely nothing wrong with wearing that stuff, like at all; the thing that caught Laf’s eye was the sweater in particular. Unbeknownst to anyone, aside from Laf and Danny, Carmilla’s favourite colour was purple. Also unbeknownst to the general public, that sweater was Carmilla’s favourite sweater.

_Interesting…_

Lafontaine just pursed their lips and tried to focus on their conversation with Laura, making a mental note to report this incident to the group chat.

…

Danny opened the door to her home, around 7:45 p.m., after a long day of volunteering. Thinking that the house was empty, due to both her parents working late shifts at the hospital, she was quite frightened when someone call her name.

“Danielle?” Called out her dad, from somewhere on the main level. Clutching her chest, with a loud gasp, Danny stopped in her tracks.

“Dad!” the tall ginger said in an exhausted tone, “Dad don’t do that!” the man laughed, walking towards where she was. When he was finally in her eyesight, she said, “God, warn a chick next time, Pete.” Peter Lawrence was a doctor at a general hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, two cities over. He had met Danny’s mother, Ida, during his residency. It was the standard office romance, in which Pete was the newbie who fell for their boss.

Her father laughed once more. “I texted you, earlier.” He defended with a large smile. Danny checked her phone and saw that it had actually died, so that was problem number one. They said as much to their dad and he teased her about forgetting to bring her car charger. Banter continued until Danny said that they were tired and needed to sleep.

That was all a cover-up for Danny, running up the stairs at break-neck speed, only to jump into bed and log into MSN Messenger. The cheerleaders had confessed, yesterday, that Laura was reciprocating Carmilla’s feelings to a fault. Lafaontaine had texted her that they had an update on what happened when Laura brought Carmilla home, before Danny’s volunteering shift. Danny couldn’t wait to hear the news, in all honesty.

Danny and Carmilla had been friends since pre-school. When Carmilla had to change schools because of the bullying, Danny begged her parents to also switch her to the same school. They were a team, together, and always would be. Danny teases Carmilla a ton, but never truly wishes to meddle and will stop all actions if Carmilla really says to do so. But knowing that Laura was also game made everything that much more valid and justifiable. If there was ever a time to meddle in her best friend’s love life, the time was now.

It was almost 8 p.m., at night, yet it was the perfect time for tea.

For the first time, in almost 5 years, Danny logged into MSN messenger.

{Danny’s Laptop}

** _The Match Making Higher Authority of Silas_ **

_*RedRobin_69 has entered the chat*_

**RedRobin_69 [7:56pm] **

So who’s idea was it to name the group chat?-

**JP_Sauce [7:57pm]**

\- No clue

**FootLuce6969 [7:57pm]**

-Yuh

-Wasn’t me

**K.Bro420 [7:59pm]**

-I think it was Crazy Hair Hottie’s idea

-Lol

**Lola.Perry.2001 [8:01pm]**

\- @K.Bro420 Kirsch, I told you that wasn’t my name.

**K.Bro420 [8:01pm]**

-But bro

-Every1’s got a rad nickname

**Love.Matska [8:01pm]**

-The idiot’s got a point

**RedRobin_69 [8:03pm]**

I hate to admit it-

But he is right-

**K.Bro420 [8:03]**

-SWEET

-Im the beessssst

_*Mellowtonin has entered the chat*_

_*Betty_no_Veronica has entered the chat*_

**Mellowtonin [8:04pm]**

-S’up

**Betty_no_Veronica [8:04pm]**

-Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey

-Whatd we misssssss??

**Mellowtonin [8:05pm]**

-Absolutely nothing so far

-There’s an alleged update

-I only showed up because Laf said they had news

**Lola.Perry.2001 [8:06pm]**

-Yes! Lafontaine said that they received an update, earlier today!

**Mellowtonin [8:06]**

-Well they’d better get a move on

-I have better things to do

**Love.Matska [8:06]**

-Like watch General Hospital?

**Betty_no_Veronica [8:06]**

-Ouuuuuu

-[Betty_no_Veronica sent a “gasp” gif]

**Mellowtonin [8:06pm]**

\- …

-You have no proof

**K.Bro420 [8:07pm]**

-Haha

-Roasted™

**RedRobin [8:10pm]**

DANG IT-

WHO TAUGHT YOU THAT STUPID “™” JOKE???-

HE’S GONNA USE IT ALL THE TIME NOW-

**K.Bro420 [8:10pm]**

-sucks to suck™

**FootLuce6969 [8:15pm]**

-HAHAHA

**RedRobin69 [8:16pm]**

(-.-) -

_*LafingGas has entered the chat*_

**FootLuce6969 [8:17pm]**

-FUCKING FINALLY

**Betty_no_Veronica [8:17pm]**

-[Betty_no_Veronica sent a “happy clapping” gif]

**Love.Matska [8:17pm]**

-[Love.Matska sent a “party hard” gif]

**LafingGas [8:17pm]**

-Yes, William

-T’is I

-I have arrived

-AND BOY DO I HAVE NEWS!

-But first things first

_*LafingGas changed the name of the chat to Hollstein Shipping Co.*_

**LafingGas [8:18pm]**

-aight. That was a weird name

-so who named that anyway?

**Lola.Perry.2001 [8:18pm]**

-…

-I did, Lafontaine.

**Mellowtonin [8:19pm]**

-hawkward

**K.Bro420 [8:19pm]**

-Bruh Moment™

**Betty_no_Veronica [8:21pm]**

**-**[Betty_no_Veronica sent a “An I Oop” gif]

**RedRobin69 [8:21pm]**

BAHAHAHA-

**JP_Sauce [8:21pm]**

-(x_x)

**LafingGas [8 :23pm]**

**-**…

-It was a good start, but my name is much more interesting

-(don’t hate me please) <3

**Lola.Perry.2001 [8:23pm]**

-no, it’s quite alright Lafontaine. I do like your name better 😊

-but more importantly; you had news?

**LafingGas [8:24pm]**

-YES

-NEWS

-CARMILLA’S FAVOURITE SWEATER WAS ON LAURA’S BODY

-I REPEAT

-CARMILLA’S FAVOURITE SWEATER WAS ON LAURA’S BODY!!!!!

**K.Bro420 [8:24pm]**

**-**ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

**Betty_no_Veronica [8:24pm]**

-[Betty_no_Veronica sent a “takes off glasses” gif]

**RedRobin69 [8:24pm]**

The violet one with the sharks?-

Or the one that’s purple and blank?-

**Love.Matska [8:24pm]**

-Alert the fashion police!

-who puts sharks on a sweater?

**Mellowtonin [8:24pm]**

-This is excellent blackmail material

**LafingGas [8:25pm]**

-@RedRobin69 it’s the blank purple one

-y’all it’s just a sweater LOL

**RedRobin69 [8:25pm]**

Omg-

Unbelievable-

**FootLuce6969 [8:25pm]**

-was Carmilla in the sweater, during this time? 😉

**Love.Matska [8:25pm]**

-ou la la 😉

**LafingGas [8:26pm]**

-omg no

-I meant that Carmilla gave Laura her fave sweater

**Mellowtonin [8:26pm]**

-[Mellowtonin sent a “sexy wink” gif]

-whoops, delayed response

**FootLuce6969 [8:27pm]**

-oh ☹

**RedRobin69 [8:27pm]**

More believable-

**JP_Sauce [8:28pm]**

-It’s still a massive progression, in terms of courtship!

**LafingGas [8:28pm]**

-It’s only a matter of time now, gang

-only a matter of time 😉

After a few more random conversations, Danny decided she had had enough of the conversation and wanted some sleep. Looking at the digital clock, after shutting the laptop, she realized that it was almost 2 a.m.

…

**[NOW BACK TO REGULAR SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING]**

_*INSERT CORNY INTRO MUSIC*_

_(Preferably the intro to “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley)_

It had been two weeks since the whole “drugged and punched” incident, and Carmilla’s eye was basically all healed up (no longer black & blue, but a nice yellow now). It was nearing the end of the month; closer and closer to graduation day. Carmilla had finally chosen a program; a double major in neuroscience and psychology, at the University of Toronto. She wasn’t able to start in neuroscience, of course; she was starting out in life sciences and after completing the requirements, her degree would be updated to include the specialization.

“Dang, Kitty,” William said, reviewing the program outline on Carmilla’s phone, “you’re in for a real ass-kicking.” They were currently at a lunch table, in the patio section of their high school. When the weather was nice, students had the opportunity to eat outside. Unfortunately, Laf, Danny and J.P. didn’t have the same lunch period as she did, so she was stuck eating lunch with Will and Kirsch.

Carmilla just shrugged at William while continuing to eat her macaroni salad, “It’s a step in the right direction,” she explained, “I want to go into clinical psychology, and I feel that if I take courses about the traditional brain sciences, I’ll have a better and deeper understanding.” William just nodded.

“That’s fair,” he replied. The football player didn’t really have much of an interest in whatever Carmilla was taking; he just wanted to be happy for his friends. He was about to hand her phone back when she got a text message. Thinking it was just going to be from Laf or Danny, William swiped up to open the message. His smile was undeniable and Carmilla just looked at him like her had three heads.

“What?” she asked and he just smiled wider.

“Oh nothing,” he leant over the table to show Kirsch and the tall boy was equally giddy, smiling at the phone screen. The confusion Carmilla was feeling was rapidly turning into agitation.

“Come on, guys.” She said, reaching towards the phone. At her gesture, William got up and sat across her, beside Kirsch. “Seriously? William, give back my phone!”

“Not until you explain who’s saved as ‘Wifey ♥’ on your cell, Kitts!” William told her while Kirsch Laughed. The dark-haired girl just paled at his words.

When Laura had inputted her number, into Carmilla’s phone, the brunette was still enjoying the backseat proposal thing and saved her number under “Wifey ♥”. It had been a running joke, since the incident, and Carmilla wasn’t forced to acknowledge it to anyone else.

Until now, obviously.

“It’s none of your business!” Carmilla said, still reaching over the table, for her cell-phone.

William smirked, “If you don’t tell us, right now, I’ll call the number and we’ll find out ourselves!”

“Haha, awesome.” Kirsch said, liking his friend’s plan for blackmail. “Just tell us, Angry Hottie! Please?!” Kirsch began doing his signature ‘puppy-eyes’ and Carmilla groaned.

“FINE, assholes!” she took a deep breath before answering, “…it’s Laura’s number…” there was a beat of silence before both boys broke out into an obnoxious round of laughter.

“PFFT!”

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“NO WAY!”

“AWESOME, ANGRY HOTTIE!”

William took a break from laughing and turned his back to Carmilla, pretending to make-out. Carmilla rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She very well could have explained that Laura saved it that way, but was already too exhausted. She held out her hand for the phone and Kirsch placed it into her palm. Sighing, Carmilla opened up her message from Laura.

{Carmilla’s iPhone}

**Wifey ♥**

**Hey! [12:43 p.m.]**

**Mr. Stanton let us out early [12:43 p.m.]**

**Mattie and I will be headed to the patio will u be there? ** **😊** ** [12:44 p.m.]**

Carmilla really had no idea what to do about her situation. She was head over heals, free-falling and stunt-diving into the friendzone for Laura but the mixed signals she had been getting threw her way off. Every goddamn morning, Laura would send her a “good-morning” text. After school, if they weren’t already texting, Laura would ask her if she’d like a ride home. On the off chance Carmilla would say yes to a ride, Laura would drive her home and then come back to school for cheer practice. Danny had told Carmilla that Laura was making moves, but the raven-haired girl just thought that she was being her usual friendly self.

{Carmilla’s iPhone}

**Wifey ♥**

**[12:47 p.m.] Yes, I’m with Kirsch and Will**

**[12:47 p.m.] we’re by the big oak tree**

It didn’t take long for Laura to reply to her at all.

{Carmilla’s iPhone}

**Wifey ♥**

**Roger that! ** **😉** ** [12:47 p.m.]**

**I’m in line for taco salad :D [12:47 p.m.]**

**Did u need a drink or a snack?? [12:48 p.m.]**

Will peered over Carmilla’s shoulder, as she thought about a reply. See, this was the thing; Laura was always asking her if she wanted anything. How can you go from never speaking to texting everyday? It made no sense. Carmilla just replied with a ‘no thank you 😊” and left it at that. William scoffed at her response.

“Your game is weak, dude.” He told her, “You totally should’ve said something like ‘you’re the only snack I need’ with a winky face!” Carmilla’s face contorted into disgust at the mere thought of such language.

“Ew, who would do something that stupid?” she said and looked at Kirsch. The taller jock just shrugged.

“Meh, it works for me sometimes.” Kirsch admitted, shamelessly. William nodded along, with pride.

“And Kirsch’s kill count is insane.” The shorter boy boasted.

Carmilla frowned in disappointment, “I dare you idiots to brag about ‘kill counts’ when you meet your future wives.” Before any of them could reply, someone sat down at their table and immediately started moving things out of their way.

“Afternoon, heathens,” greeted Mattie. The tall girl looked over at Carmilla before continuing, “and Carmilla. Mind if we sit?” from behind Mattie appeared Laura with her beautiful and radiant smile. Carmilla scooted over so that Laura was in between her and Mattie.

“Of course, we mind,” Will said, “but when has that ever stopped you?”

Mattie smiled at his response. “Ah, William; you are learning.” As Mattie and the football players began conversing, Laura leaned in towards Carmilla. The raven-haired girl could smell the hint of lavender wafting off of Laura, most likely from shampoo.

“So how was your day, so far?” Laura asked, digging into her taco salad.

“It was okay.” Carmilla answered, “World history would have been better if Mrs. Tivley didn’t start ranting about her divorce with her new husband.” Laura’s face contorted into an incredulous expression.

“I swear she just got married to him, like, last January.”

“Trust me, I know.” The two girls laughed a little more at the history teacher’s sad love life while munching on their lunch. It amazed Carmilla how conversational Laura really was. Even though she was innately awkward, Laura wouldn’t make her feel uncomfortable and would simply laugh off all of her little slips. It was nice. Usually, whenever Carmilla had a slip up, Danny or Will would be the first to dive into roasting.

Laura and Carmilla had a break in conversation, listening to Mattie yell at William for accidentally saying something offensive. Once the yelling started, Laura suddenly asked, “So…uh, Carmilla? What are you doing on Saturday?” the raven-haired girl was mildly thrown off, but didn’t feel like she was falling off of a cliff anymore.

“Uh…” Carmilla tried to think if she had anything planned, “nothing, why?”

“Well, uh…” she was suddenly visibly nervous and, wait, was that a blush? “…My dad was telling me about how he ran into your mom, at the market, and they talked about how we were both going to Toronto for school.” Carmilla was trying her hardest to figure out where Laura was going with this.

“Okay?”

Laura let out a nervous laugh, “Heh, they came up with the brilliant idea of you coming with me and my dad, on Saturday. Crazy, right?” At this point in time, conversation between William, Kirsch and Mattie halted in order to hear what Laura was trying to do.

To them it sounded like Laura was trying to see if Carmilla was interested in spending the weekend with her. To Carmilla, it seemed like a perfectly innocent request.

“So, my mother just sold me to the Hollis family for the weekend, huh?” Carmilla replied, smiling.

“She said that she had to work from home, and wouldn’t be able to take you down for a tour until next month. Did she text you about this idea?” Laura asked yet Carmilla was too busy focusing on what Laura seems to think her mother had said. The raven-haired girl internally shook her head. It just seemed rather convenient of her mother, who previously said that she was taking the summer semester off from teaching online college courses. Her mother, who was already purchasing “University of Toronto Swag”, in preparation for their _scheduled tour_, next weekend.

Yes…

_Convenient._

“Yeah, no, she didn’t run any of that by me.” Carmilla informed the brunette, taking a fake sip from her empty chocolate milk box. She caught Will’s smirk in her peripheral and fought the urge to throw something at his stupid little face.

“My dad literally told me, like 20 minutes ago.” Laura managed to rush out, still blushing, “So, I just wanted to see if you’d actually wanna go.” Will, Mattie and Kirsch were gripping their seats, under the table.

“Yeah, of course.” Carmilla said with a friendly smile, “I can’t wait.” Her response made Laura smile and, for some reason, the shorter girl was blushing and radiating more warmth than usual.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little background into our story's version of Laura, and her lovely father. Pre-Toronto fun!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I used a different name for Laura's father, way back when and didn't change it after season 3. I couldn't part with the father I gave her, in this story. For added measure, he kind of looks like Ryan Reynolds. Anyway, enjoy this little pre-game into the Hollis story.
> 
> Additionally, I'm going back to school, so if you're reading this, I made a two part AU of Holstein. The second part has to be edited, but the first will be up about 5 minutes following the upload of this chapter. It is completely separate of all my other fics.
> 
> Enjoy, and keep being amazing <3

“Alrighty, kiddo! Do we have everything we need?” the tall, semi-muscular man said, lugging a heavy-duty duffle bag into the trunk of his Dodge Caravan. Laura just shook her head, once she realized how big the duffle was.

“Dad,” she chastised, “we’re only going to be there for the day…”

“Still!” he said, reaching above him to close the trunk. “You can’t ever be too prepared!” With a groan, Laura began to make her way to the passenger seat. It was 4:57 a.m., and she was way too tired to argue with her father, while he was so damn chipper in the morning.

No one was ever going to be as prepared for anything as Derek Hollis; no joke. Someone could suddenly sprain their ankle and Derek would reach into his fanny pack for a miniature first aid kit and some Icy Hot muscle pads. Laura hated the person who deemed fanny packs back in season; whoever it was owed her a sincere apology. From her position, still outside the car, she could peer through the windows to the driver’s side, where he was fumbling with his new bright orange fanny pack. As embarrassing as she thought he was, Laura knew that he had struggled for a long time and this new bubbly personality is really an improvement. 

For Derek, the world had stopped when he lost his mother, at the tender age of 5. His own father didn’t know what to do and left Derek on the doorstep of their neighbour’s house before ending his life in the creek. Derek was then raised by the Hollis family, who was so loving and caring that he never wondered about what life would have been like with his biological parents. He had everything he needed and he was grateful to be given a full chance at life.

Derek attended Queen’s University, for both his bachelor’s and law degree. He completed everything with outstanding grades, but realized that being a lawyer wasn’t exactly what he pictured for himself. He still got licensed, because he thought it was a waste after all his hard work, and continued with this career path. The pay was nice, and he wanted to live on his own. During his early years at a firm (at the age of 26), Derek met a young woman named Beverly Atkins. They dated very briefly, but it all ended after he told her to focus on her young life and not to obsess over their relationship. She was still in school, and he wanted her to finish what she started.

The same day that Derek got called to the Bar of Ontario (a year later), he returned to find a basket on his doorstep. Surprise, surprise; Beverly had a child and was convinced that it was his (after a paternity test, at his adoptive father’s request, this baby was definitely Derek’s). She left a note, saying that she lost a lot in this past year, and could no longer care for 4-month-old Lauren Atkins (when Derek went to change her last name to his, he couldn’t read the smudged note and thought it said “Laura”. He didn’t realize it was Lauren until it was already changed). Derek found it heartbreaking that he and Laura had similar beginnings, but he was just as dedicated as his parents were to give his daughter everything she needed.

Was she spoiled? Absolutely not. Could it have been a possibility? Yes. Derek adored his daughter and got a new job, where he could retain clients while being at home. Even though he had so much going on, Laura was his life.

This was the problem. Laura could feel that he was so attached to her; when she started getting older, they’d get into more arguments. _“You’re always out”_ he’d say, _“You’re never at home anymore”_. The phrases would break her heart, but Laura had big plans. She wanted to go to university, she wanted to experience life on her own. Now that her father was the notary public in the neighbouring city of Walden, she was free, and the last three years of her life had been great! She got to travel around, come home whenever she wanted (usually around 10 p.m., because she was afraid of coyotes coming to get her) and join as many clubs as possible. She adored spending time with him, since he was her hero and all, but she loved being able to be her own person.

A part of being her own person led her to where she is now, which means that this trip was going to be a little difficult. Although her and her father were very close, Laura hadn’t gotten around to informing him about her sexuality. She doesn’t think it’s that much of an issue, because her uncle Steve is a very, _very_, gay man and Derek loves him to bits. You wouldn’t be able to tell that they weren’t actually blood brothers. But Derek, as lenient as he is, has plans for her. He always talks about his friend’s sons and points out young men to her, but she hadn’t had the heart to correct him. He’d go on and on about how nice he’ll be, until they mistreat her. She knew how hard he dreamt and didn’t want to crush them.

She thought she was bisexual, in grade 9, but was quickly corrected when she kissed a close friend of hers. His name was Harrison, and he was very sweet. They had been seeing one another for about a month. They had kissed before, but in public. So, when they were in her room for the first time, she attempted to take things further. If taking things further meant breaking down into tears while crying into his shoulder, then yes: it worked. Truth be told, she had feelings for someone for a long time.

Carmilla Karnstein first appeared to Laura in the 6th grade. She had moved in from a different school and Laura noticed how sad she looked all the time. Being herself, Laura tried her best to befriend her, but the tall girl with red hair was like her personal body guard. Those two did everything together and Laura decided to not get involved. Grade 7 came, and so did the worst teach EVER. Mrs. Haversham always assigned seats, but that year wasn’t horrid because Laura was assigned to sit beside Carmilla. It was in that class when Laura started to look at the dark-haired girl a little too long, and couldn’t wait for her to raise her hand and answer a question just so that Laura could hear her voice. Sadly, Laura thought that Carmilla hated her, because of how quiet she was.

Fast forward to high school, and Laura fell even harder knowing that Carmilla was just shy and awkward. She’d see her with William, Laf, Kirsch and Danny and they’d all just goof off and be silly. Carmilla would just shake her head and walk away, calling them all stupid. Carmilla was beautiful, but also incredibly smart. She was probably going to be valedictorian, like her brothers Kilian and Sergei. Carmilla, overall, was a mystery and Laura wanted to discover more of her.

Back to this trip; it was going to be difficult because it was her father (His Royal Obliviousness), Carmilla (the girl she had been crushing on for a long time) and herself (and all her gayness). She had managed to crush on Carmilla from afar, since they didn’t really speak. But ever since board games night, Laura felt a surge of confidence and decided that she should be more aggressive (Mel & Mattie’s advice). It has, so far, been working. They had been texting one another, non-stop, and were even up until nearly 2 a.m. just texting about random stuff. In fact, Laura was a crazy person, so she pulled out her phone to see some of the messages from last night.

{Laura’s iPhone}

**Carmilla ** **😊** **♥**

**[11:50pm] here.**

**[11:50pm] 20150923_IMG.jpg**

**Omg [11:50pm]**

**I’ll be honest, I didn’t believe you [11:50pm]**

**[11:51pm] whaaaat?**

**[11:52pm] dude. I can rock a fedora**

**[11:52pm] exhibit A, as above**

**I didn’t know you could be this lame [11:52pm]**

**[11:52pm] RUDE.**

**[11:52pm] Fedoras are sickkkk**

**[11:53pm] Perry the Platypus wears them**

**[11:53pm] s’all good**

**Who’s/what’s that? [11:53pm]**

**[11:53pm]** **😲**

**[11:53pm] the iconic and lovable**

**pet of Phineas & Ferb?!**

**I still don’t know what you’re talking about [11:53pm]**

**I honestly have no clue [11:53pm]**

**[11:53pm] ARGH!!!!**

**[11:54pm] I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’VE NEVER**

**WATCHED PHINEAS & FERB**

**I mean why not? [11:55pm]**

**I don’t really watch television [11:55pm]**

**[11:55pm] YOU.**

**[11:55pm] WHAT????????**

**💁🏻** ** [11:55pm]**

The following conversation led to Laura and Carmilla skyping so that the cheerleader could introduce the shy girl to every pop culture necessity. She enjoyed showing Carmilla new things and absolutely loved it when the dark-haired girl would teach her something new. Like, it wasn’t a surprise that Carmilla was a genius; her brothers were all on the honour’s wall, at Silas High.

Anyway, their flirting had gotten a little bolder, in the last few days (due entirely to Laura), and she was worried that a) it’ll make this trip awkward and b) her dad will definitely pick up on it. Whatever happens, Laura decided to stick with her 2019 motto: FUCK ALL THE SHIT. She was going to make the best of her alone time with Carmilla today, and nothing was going to stop her.

“Did you pack your umbrella, Honey-Buns?” her dad suddenly asked, joining her in the van.

Laura sighed.

_Right_, she thought, _nothing except dad_.

“Daddy,” she said exasperatedly, “it’s going to be sunny all day.”

Derek shrugged as he started up the vehicle’s engine, “Still; you’ve gotta be prepared!” after making it out of their driveway, and down the street, Laura folded her arms with a huff.

Sighing again, she admitted defeat. “Yes, I brought my umbrella.”

…

Her alarm blared throughout her bedroom, but she was already awake. Cursing herself for forgetting to turn off her alarm, like any time before now, Carmilla reached for the digital clock and slammed her fist on the “silence” button. She groaned loud once she noticed that the clock was a disgusting time:

5:00 a.m.

Why on earth was she up at this Godforsaken hour? Right; she was going on a school tour with her biggest crush…and their dad. One day, with Laura and Mr. Hollis, exploring where they would be attending school in the fall. Rolling onto her back, she wondered why she had agreed to such an idea. It seemed innocent enough, but in the days leading up to now, she felt like Laura and her were becoming closer. That wasn’t a bad thing, per se, Carmilla was just incredibly lackluster in the dating category.

Sure, she had kissed people before, but she had never actually been in a legitimate relationship. No one else knew this except for Danny, Lafontaine and her family. Everyone else was under the guise of Carmilla _at least _having one romantic relationship. Speaking with Laura wasn’t the best thing for this problem since the cheerleader has had previous relationships AND had sex before. Even if Carmilla was bold enough to start something up, with her, she’d feel immensely below satisfactory in terms of experience.

Pushing her insecurities to the back of her mind, Carmilla slowly got up and attempted to get ready and look presentable. The Hollis family would be here, any moment, and she didn’t want to appear lazy or ungrateful. She was immensely thankful for Mr. Hollis, in offering to take her on a tour of UofT, even though his daughter was going to Ryerson; Carmilla guessed that kindness was flowing through their genetic pool. The only thing that flowed through the Karnstein’s blood was wit, snarky remarks and black hair.

Carmilla’s outfit choice was casual: deep purple crew-neck sweater that was cropped just above the waist, black cargo joggers, white running shoes and some leather bracelets. As she started to brush her hair, there was three loud knocks at her bedroom door. Before she could ask who it was, her grandmother’s voice broke through the wooden barricade.

“MILLA!” she screeched, “CARMILLA ARE YOU UP?!” before even letting the girl reply, the old woman pounded on the door once more. In the distance, Carmilla could hear Archie beginning to bark. The raven-haired girl didn’t blame the dog; it sounded like someone was trying to break in. to prevent more damage, and to stop her grandmother from waking up the rest of the house, the dark-haired girl trudged towards her door and opened it. There stood Lilita karnstein, in a black silk robe with her sleeping mask on top of her head.

“Gram!” Carmilla chastised, “I was already up; you don’t need to be so extra!” the older woman crossed her arms and offered a pointed expression.

“I was just trying to be helpful. If it were up to you, you wouldn’t wake up until 3 p.m.” Gram huffed, just before walking away. As irritated as Carmilla was, she adored her crazy grandmother because…well, she was _her _crazy grandmother. Before the woman was out of sight, Carmilla said,

“I love you, gram!” Carmilla chuckled watching as the old woman held up the finger before re-entering her bedroom. Despite the offending gesture, Carmilla knew Lilita had a weakness for her grandchildren and loved them to endless bounds. Although her actions, used in projecting love, were less than conventional.

After finishing her morning routine, rather quickly, Carmilla was waiting on the porch by 5:15 a.m. Laura had sent her a text at 5:10 a.m., indicating that they had left her home and were on route to Carmilla’s home. Carmilla figured that she didn’t need to bring anything except for her phone and a sling pack. Inside her sling pack was a windbreaker, a notepad and her wallet. They were only going for the day, and would probably be back by tonight (latest, tomorrow morning). Silas was in the middle of Thunder Bay and Toronto, in terms of relative distance, and the assumptive route would probably take 4.5 – 5 hours of driving. Carmilla had no idea what to expect of the situation. How many times can you say that you’ve been on a road trip with your crush and their parent? Hopefully the answer would be non-applicable, but for Carmilla everything that should be awkward is most definitely applicable.

Carmilla was just to text Laura back when her mother made an appearance.

“Oh, good!” she said, walking out onto the porch in her house-coat and pajamas, “I thought I missed you. God, it’s too early.” Carmilla eyeballed her mother, with disappointment, as she approached.

“I thought you’d be swamped with work…just like Laura said?” Carmilla never took her eyes off Nora and the older woman just shrugged. She knew that she had been caught.

“I’ll say I have a cold or something,” Nora supplied, “I’m a good method actor.” The younger Karnstein just shook her head.

“Disappointment.”

“Oh, come on, Milly…” Nora whined, “I know you like this girl!”

Carmilla groaned in agony. Now her own mother was in on this whole thing, and it was becoming exhausting. “What is with all you people and setting me up?!”

“Carmilla, it’s okay to like her! She’s lovely!”

“But what if I’m not?”

Silence.

Ever since Carmilla had to switch schools, they never really discussed anything else. All Nora knew was that Carmilla was being picked on by a few other girls in her grade, for dressing like a tomboy. Nora, at the time, had not foreseen the drastic psychological damage that Carmilla would face. But here, in that statement, Nora knew that Carmilla felt less than adequate. That broke her heart way more than her baby girl coming home with bruises on her bruises. Nora knelt in front of Carmilla and brushed some hair away from her daughter’s face. The teen’s facial expression was blank but her eyes were pleading; pleading for reassurance. Thankfully, Nora knew how to do that.

“Sweetie…” Nora said carefully, running her fingers through her daughter’s dark hair, “you’re such an amazing young woman. Coming from your mother, I can see where you’d anticipate a bias, but you are fantastic. I promise you that.” Carmilla wanted to believe her mother, she desperately did, but deep down she still felt unworthy of mirrored affections.

To brush off the entire conversation, the dark-haired girl shrugged and offered a shy smile. “Okay.” Carmilla said. Nora didn’t feel that the conversation was entirely over, but she digressed when she saw a pair of headlights come up the driveway.

“Oh!” Nora said, with a cheery smile. She got up and tightened the house coat around herself a little more. “That’s Derek’s van! You’re friends’ here.”

“Derek?”

“Derek Hollis went to high school with my sister,” Nora explained, “you remember Auntie Alicia? Yeah, they knew one another.” Carmilla just shook her head at how excited her mother seemed. Since her father died, all those years ago, Carmilla and her brothers never noticed Nora having any friends outside of their family. It was nice. The older woman walked right up to the van but a tall man got out of the vehicle to greet her first.

“Nora!” he exclaimed, just as excited as her mother seemed. “It’s so good to see you, again! I still cannot believe you were here, in Silas, for all this time!”

“Right? If I hadn’t bumped into you, at the market, I wouldn’t have known!” Nora said. The two adults hugged briefly, before he laid eyes on Carmilla. The dark-haired girl could see where all of Laura’s features came from, even in the dim light at the break of dawn. He had short, wispy, honey-brown hair and sharp-looking glasses. His smile was bright and his skin was also slightly tanned. He looked like he remained active, even as he aged; the only discrepancy was that he was probably about 6 feet, and Laura was the opposite of what you would consider as “tall”. Suddenly, Nora remembered that Carmilla was on the scene and motioned for her to come closer. “How rude of me. Derek, this is my youngest, Carmilla.”

“Car…milla,” he sounded out, “what a lovely name. I’m Derek; Laura’s father!” Carmilla hesitantly outstretched her hand for a shake. He was entirely too chipper, for the time of day, but she figured that all adults in her life were like that.

Except for Gram.

Derek just continued to be super nice. All Carmilla could focus on was how eerily similar he was to Laura, despite the size difference and obvious other factors. “So, you must be the ‘genius new friend’ that my Little Buggins can’t stop raving about, huh?” Carmilla had no other response to that other than nodding and blushing, like a fool. Luckily, Derek seemed to be more immersed in the task at hand. He shifted his gaze from Carmilla and then smiled back at Nora. “Now, I hate to part like this, but we’ve gotta hit the road – or else we’ll be stuck here.”

Nora just laughed and squeezed Carmilla’s shoulder. “Yes, you’d better take her away from me before I try to keep her here, with me, any longer.”

“Yup. Bye, ma.” The raven-haired girl turned around and kissed Nora’s cheek.

“When will you bring my little angel back to me?” Nora questioned, with a smile. Carmilla just rolled her eyes and walked towards the van.

Derek laughs loudly, “Don’t worry, Nora. I feel the exact same, everytime Laura has to leave for cheer competitions or away games.” The parents hug once more before Derek says, “We should be back by 10:30 p.m. – 11 p.m. at the absolute latest!” With a smile, Nora steps back and watches as Derek helps Carmilla into the back with Laura.

Inside the middle row of the van, Laura is all curled up behind the driver’s seat fast asleep. Carmilla fastens herself in as Derek settles into the driver’s seat. Carmilla looks up at him as if to ask why he’s laughing. Derek smiles back at Carmilla, through the rearview mirror, and explains.

“I told her to go to bed early. Otherwise, you’ll be privy to her snoring.” Carmilla snorts and Derek nods, “She’s louder than my father, and he’s got sleep apnea. I have extra earbuds, that hook up to my bluetooth aux, here. Would you like some?” Carmilla looks over at Laura, sleeping soundly. Her hair is a little tussled and drool is falling onto the hand tucked under her cheek. Carmilla resists the urge to take a photo and declines Derek’s offer.

“No thanks, Mr. Hollis,” Carmilla says, “but I want the full road trip experience.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope this was good!
> 
> G'night, Lovelies! <3


End file.
